


Make Me Bad

by selverya



Category: The Sims (Video Games)
Genre: Embedded Images, F/M, Guns, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Possession, slow start
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-15
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-24 23:00:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 53,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22085935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/selverya/pseuds/selverya
Summary: Morgyn Ember has been Sage of Untamed Magic for quite a number of years now, but one day reunites with long-lost fraternal twin Damian. Damian’s recently become engaged to Cassandra Goth, and Cassandra, feeling like Damian and Morgyn need to reconnect, invites Morgyn to live with them in San Myshuno, along with the Vatore siblings, Lilith and Caleb, both good friends of hers. They all discover a little more than they bargained for, and go on a journey of love, loss, and what it means to be human. This is the old version of Throw Me Away and it's just here for archiving purposes. The expanded version features a completely rewritten TMA and the series was renamed to Of Frost and Fire, also here on AO3.
Relationships: Caleb Vatore/Cassandra Goth, Cassandra Goth/Morgyn Ember, Cassandra Goth/Original Character(s), Lilith Vatore/Summer Holiday, Morgyn Ember/Caleb Vatore
Kudos: 15





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a slow burner. It takes a while before it gets interesting. Sorry about that. I posted this already on The Sims forums and also on my WordPress, but I suppose it can go here, too. Basically, I got curious how many Morgynisms remained in a Sim that'd been copied from Morgyn, and made Damian, Morgyn's twin brother. And then things kind of snowballed and the next thing I know I'm writing an entire story. This is the first iteration of that story. The actual, full version of it is Of Frost and Fire, so check that out if you like this. Enjoy.

Her mother wasn’t so sure about it at first, but Cassandra decided she wanted to move into the Culpepper House apartments in San Myshuno with her good friend Damian Ember. Caleb Vatore, one of her other good friends (and a vampire), seemed to spend a lot of time at their apartment. Cassandra would wonder why, but she had a feeling he was looking out for her in his own, awkward, old-vampire way.

“I’ve got some ideas for the bathroom,” Cassandra said. “I’ll have to show them to you later.” Fortunately, as long as _they_ paid for it, the apartment landlord didn’t really care what they did with the interior of their unit. It was a good thing, as the apartment they were in used to be a one bedroom. She liked Damian well enough, but it likely wasn’t a good idea to share a bedroom already.

Damian frowned slightly. “I’ll look,” he said. “But I don’t really have a lot of money put away yet.”

“That’s fine,” Cassandra answered. “I have plenty, I’ll take care of it. Besides, it’s my idea.”

Cassandra was a nice girl, Caleb knew. The problem he had was that Cassandra was _too_ nice, and it was very easy for someone to take advantage of her kindness. And probably, Cassandra wouldn’t see a problem with that. Caleb did. He wasn’t so sure he trusted this Damian guy, and he _might_ have been a little miffed. Not jealous, Caleb didn’t do _jealousy_. Just miffed, because Cassandra was close friends with him first.

At least, he _thought_ so, but it took a bit before Caleb scented Damian on her anyway. He did have to admit the man was attractive in a way that should be fucking illegal, but he wasn’t going to tell _him_ that. Not yet, anyway.

Caleb was still watching him. And if he messed up his best friend, Caleb _might_ end up ruining his life. He was getting better at ruining lives.

Cassandra had a painting easel, a stack of clean canvases, and a bunch of paint tubes. Damian was also relatively creative, and figured he might be able to pick up this painting thing, too. As it stood, Cassandra was the one making all the money for the rent. Damian was having trouble finding a job with no work history, and no secondary education. And to make matters even worse for him, his high school diploma was from a school in France with an obscure name everyone swore had been torn down fifty years ago.

It wasn’t like Damian was surprised. He should’ve chosen fake high schools better, though. Well, maybe in another five years, he could fix it.

It turned out, though, this painting stuff was more difficult than Cassandra made it seem. Damian tilted his head at what he was painting. He’d seen Cassandra paint a couple dogs before, and it looked really nice. His was more like a two year old had done it.

“Cute,” came a husky voice to his side.

Damian rolled his eyes. Why was Caleb still here, anyway? “Thanks.”

“Certainly better than I can manage,” Caleb said. “So I wasn’t being sarcastic.”

“Well, I’ll be sarcastic for you,” Damian said, sighing and tapping the paintbrush handle in his hand. “I’m really not good at this, and should leave it to Cassandra.”

Caleb snorted. “Everyone starts somewhere. It could be worse.”

“If I can’t make back the cost of making it, then there’s no point,” Damian answered. “And I doubt I will.”

Caleb shrugged, and then headed into the kitchen to get only his fifteenth glass of water that day. Cassandra said he just had an overactive thirst drive, but Damian wondered… in any case, he turned back to the easel, and sighed. Maybe he’d try something else. Writing was always fun…

“Ack, what are you doing?!” Damian shouted at the television.

Cassandra, doing her homework at the dining room table, tilted her head. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Nothing,” Damian replied. “Just white people in horror movies doing white peopleisms.”

Cassandra laughed. “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah she goes in there,” Damian explained, “and the door opens itself and she goes _into the door that opened by itself_ , like wow okay. Why do horror movie writers even do this anyway, it makes Sims look so stupid. I mean, if a door opens and nothing touched it that you can see, it still probably didn’t open by itself!”

Cassandra arched an eyebrow. “I didn’t know you had so many feelings about this.”

Glancing at her, Damian blinked. “You know, I didn’t either until just now.”

“Restaurants and their atmospheres help – … help… shoot, what came after that?” Cassandra paused for a moment, shuffling through her index cards and searching the presentation board for where she was.

University was somewhat tough. She was doing alright, or at least she thought so, and her professors didn’t seem to have any complaints about her work. It was probably best to take that as she was doing well enough. Presenting wasn’t her thing, though; Cassandra had spent so long as a wallflower, it was hard to imagine anyone paying attention to anything she said.

This one was about restaurants. That was what this class was about. Cassandra wanted to become a chef, but she wasn’t sure if she was going to work for someone else, or if the ultimate goal was to open her own restaurant.

Well, there was time for that later.

“Morning Damian,” Cassandra greeted, smiling softly.

“Oh, good morning,” Damian answered. “Did you sleep okay?”

“Yeah, I think so,” Cassandra replied. “Did you?”

“Yes, thank you.”

And then like often they did, after the pleasantries were over, they seemed to have no idea what to say to one another, but not for lack of wanting to talk. Mostly, Damian gazed at her with this weird look on his face that _somehow_ , Cassandra found intensely embarrassing, and the staring at her took all her words away. Like suddenly she forgot how to speak Simlish.

“Um, there are some things that need to be gotten for the house,” Cassandra said. “I have a list, and I’ll give you the money to cover it, if you could go get them while I’m in class?”

“Sure,” Damian said. “Yeah, I’d be happy to.” It’d be nice to feel _useful_ for once.

“Great,” Cassandra said. “Um, so here’s the list,” she went on, handing him a piece of paper, “and that should be enough to cover it, but if it’s not, the more important things are at the top, and I’ll see you after class.”

“Okay,” Damian said, as Cassandra moved around him to the door. They’d known one another for a few years now, and Damian couldn’t help it when his heart leapt into his throat when she smiled at him. He almost wondered what that meant, but he knew what that meant.

It scared him. But most things did.

This one had come out almost perfectly. There were a few smudges around the edges, where her fingers had touched the paint before it’d dried. She’d been intending to sell it, because they needed the rent money, and her paintings were making a decent amount on the streets in San Myshuno, but she liked this one a little too much.

Maybe she’d just keep this one… Cassandra smiled a little to herself, brushing a bit of her own hair out of the paint. Keeping one or two here and there likely wouldn’t hurt anything, anyway.


	2. Chapter 2

“I still can’t believe you both said yes,” Cassandra said.

“Well you know,” Caleb answered, “when your best friend asks you something like that, you just kind of go with it.”

“And I can’t let Caleb do anything by himself,” Lilith said. “He’s not great at managing on his own.”

“I’m not bad at it,” Caleb protested.

“Uhuh,” Lilith replied. “So good at it, the last time you were left to your own devices you got stuck in a jar in bat form.”

“Why a jar?” Damian asked, eyebrows quirking upward.

“I forgot to shift back before I got into the jars, and one of them was easy to get _into_ , but not out of,” Caleb said.

“… _wow_ ,” Cassandra said.

Despite how embarrassing it was, it was nice to have so many laughing friends around him now, Caleb thought. He could get used to this.

Lilith was always talking about how she wanted to go to the gym, but they had room at Spire. Cassandra saved up some money, and bought Lilith exercise equipment. If she was that interested in her physical fitness, there were ways of improving it at home. Besides that, having a high fitness level was also useful for a lot of career pursuits, if she decided she wanted to go into one of them.

“You’re not sure what you’re doing, are you?” Cassandra asked, watching Lilith fuss with the machine.

“I can figure… it out!” Lilith said, through clenched teeth.

Cassandra watched her struggle for a moment, and thought about finding her some fitness videos. That might be a better idea than letting her eventually pull a muscle. She didn’t seem to mind this potential outcome very much, but Cassandra did, and Caleb likely wasn’t fond of it either.

“If you say so…” It was probably easiest not to argue with her right this second.

“How’s your morning going?” Cassandra asked, sitting down at the dining room table beside Damian.

“Okay,” he said. To her, he seemed a little more tired than usual, but she supposed that might be a trick of the light. “You?”

“Yeah,” Cassandra said, “I’m doing alright. Just waking up.”

“Ha, sometimes I think we could use a coffee pot,” Damian said.

Cassandra made a wry expression. “No,” she said. “Caleb already dislikes sleeping as it is, you know, he’s still adjusting to being human again and needing sleep. Do you really want to give him another way of avoiding sleep?”

Damian thought about it for a moment, and then laughed. “That’s true,” he said. “No coffee pots.”

No, no coffee pots.

This was harder than it looked. Caleb tilted his head, looking at the chess board. He knew the basics, of course, of how this sort of thing was supposed to work, but the semantics of playing chess were starting to really do his head in.

“How goes the game?” Cassandra’s voice came from beside him.

“Fine,” Caleb said, fudging a little, but he didn’t really want to admit the 300 year old former vampire didn’t know how to play chess. Instead, he reached over, and moved a piece.

And Cassandra, bemusedly, reached over and moved the piece back. “This is a bishop,” she said. “Bishop pieces cannot move that way.”

“Wait, what?” Caleb asked, tilting his head.

“Here,” Cassandra said, sitting down. She’d show him how this worked, if he really wanted to learn. It was a fun game, and better than having a television around, that was for sure.

The sun fell behind the buildings at the other side of San Myshuno. Damian liked to come out onto their balcony to watch it, and usually read a book. Recently, Cassandra had been dropping hints that she liked him as a little more than just a friend, but Damian wasn’t sure how to deal with that.

It’d been… _centuries_ , since he’d had non-platonic relations with anyone, and while he didn’t immediately recoil at the thought, there was still some subconscious worry about it. Cassandra didn’t know what he’d lived through, and perhaps that was for the best. She was too good to know, too good to have to deal with the consequences of them, too good to end up cutting herself on the sharp jagged pieces of who he used to be.

It was tough. He also knew he couldn’t live afraid of everything forever, but it felt safer. Sometimes he had to wonder which was better, safer or… he couldn’t even call that happier, because happiness was no guarantee, and that was what made living so terrifyingly amazing.

There was time. He could take his time. Cassandra may not live as long as he would, though, and for her sake, he hoped she didn’t. After a point, life became meaningless.

Maybe she was the universe giving him meaning again.

“It’s nice Cassandra does all the cooking,” Caleb said, sitting down at the table next to Damian for breakfast.

“It is,” Damian agreed.

“When you’re a vampire, this cooking thing, it’s pointless,” Caleb said. “And now I can’t cook nearly as well as Cassandra, and she’ll probably skin me if I try.”

Damian laughed. “Yeah, maybe,” he said. “She was awfully picky about it even at the old apartment.”

“You look at her like she’s the most precious thing in the world to you, you know that?” Caleb asked suddenly.

Damian went quiet, shifted in his seat uncomfortably, and pointedly went back to his salad.

“Hey,” Caleb said. “I won’t tell her. But you should think about it.”

“I am.” Oh, he was…

Caleb stared out the windows. The good thing about this place was, Cassandra was right, and it did have a very nice view of the city at multiple points around the building’s parameter. He hadn’t ever really been a fan of the city, but now he didn’t mind it.

Funny enough, the city was probably a better place for a bunch of vampires than Forgotten Hollow had ever been. Much easier to hide in plain sight, and so much crime happened in big cities, nobody thought twice of it.

“You okay?” Cassandra asked, coming up beside him.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Caleb answered, offering her a quiet smile. He was just also getting the idea that he’d have to let go of Cassandra eventually. Damian, it seemed, was steadily snatching her up, and Damian seemed to have difficult enough a time with his feelings for Cassandra. Caleb would just over-complicate things for him, and hurting either of them wasn’t what Caleb wanted to do.

“You seem a bit down, is all,” she said.

Ah, and that was part of how he’d come to like her so much. “Yeah,” Caleb said. “Don’t worry about it though, I’ll be okay.” He just had to pick his pride up, and it _was_ nice to see them so happy.

He could only hope they stayed happy, but if not, he was here for them.

“Yeah, I haven’t seen Morgyn in a long time,” Damian was saying, “but I do have a sibling.”

Cassandra head tilted slightly, in thought. “Morgyn?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Damian answered. “Last I heard, Morgyn Ember’s the name now. I’ve heard bits and pieces about the stuff Morgyn Ember’s supposedly up to now, but I don’t hang around too many spellcasters anymore.”

Cassandra smiled a little. “Morgyn Ember’s the Sage of Untamed Magic,” she said. “And one of my good friends. Actually, Morgyn looks just like you, you know, just a bit more androgynous and blond.”

Damian laughed. “Morgyn’s always been like that,” he said. “We’re twins, though.”

Twins, huh? Now _that_ was interesting…


	3. Chapter 3

“Look man, just tell her,” Caleb was saying.

“But what if everything gets all awkward, and she doesn’t like me that way like it seems like she does and then our friendship implodes and -“

“And you turn green and your hair falls out,” Caleb said wryly.

“EXACTLY!”

Caleb twitched, and tried to resist the urge to fall over onto the dining room table. “I know it’s scary,” he said. “But you really just… gotta go for it, you know? You got it _bad_. _Really_ bad and she does actually like you.”

“But how do you know?”

“She’s only spent the last year _telling you_!” Caleb said.

“Maybe she was just being nice?” Damian suggested.

Caleb, once again, tried not to ram his head into the table. “Damian, _please_. Cassandra’s nice, sure, but she doesn’t _lie_ , you and I both know that.”

Damian released a breath. Caleb was probably right, and Damian was just being an anxious mess like he always was.

“Look look, Cassandra,” Caleb whispered.

Damian instantly sat upright. Oh, that was her. And for a moment, he was struck by how beautiful she was, and he knew in that moment that Caleb was right and he was screwed. He was _so_ screwed. There was no real hiding from this one. Maybe he should just… _try_.

“Get’er tiger,” Caleb said, standing up and conveniently wandering off.

“Wait,” Cassandra started.

“Nope, gotta go,” Caleb said. “Doing cardio!”

Cassandra was confused, but she didn’t argue, just shook her head, and looked at Damian. “Is it just me, or is Caleb a strange person?” she asked.

Damian laughed. “Yeah, he is a little bit.”

Silence fell. Eventually, Damian spoke up first. “You’re really pretty, you know that?” he said.

Cassandra looked surprised, but then she smiled. “Thank you,” she said. “You’re not bad looking yourself, you know.”

Oh, he knew…

One thing led to another… and the next thing he knew, they were full-on flirting across the table, and it was terrifying and exciting and she wasn’t taking it badly. He was never really sure how to reciprocate with these sorts of things.

It was kind of like a weight was lifted off his chest.

But it was too much at once. Too much, too quickly, and despite how well things were going, Damian couldn’t resist the instinct to run and hide from it.

“Sorry, I forgot something I’m supposed to be doing,” he said in a breathless rush, and then stood up and scurried off somewhere.

Cassandra was a little disappointed, but it’d taken him much longer than usual to run from her. He’d clearly been hurt before, and she understood that (she had too, a few times in high school). She didn’t want to push him.

And strangely, Cassandra’s acceptance of him leaving like that told Damian everything he needed to know. With her, maybe, it’d be okay. Because she really did seem to care about _him_.

“Morning Cassandra,” Damian greeted.

“Ah, morning Damian. Did you sleep okay?” she asked.

“I did,” he said. “Uh. Hey, are you busy right now?”

“No,” Cassandra replied. “Why? What’s up?”

Damian fidgeted uncomfortably. _Just go for it_ , he thought. And strangely, he heard Caleb’s voice in the back of his head telling him Cassandra so obviously liked him anyway, and with a quick breath in, he leaned over and pressed his lips to hers, and _lightning_ shot down his fingers it felt like, but he didn’t regret it at all.

She looked confused, and for a moment, he was afraid she didn’t feel the same way, and then she smiled, taking his hand and pulling him over to her.

“I was waiting for you to do that,” she said softly.

“Yeah?” he asked.

“I didn’t want to do anything you weren’t comfortable with,” she explained. “It seemed safer to let you come to me, not the other way around.”

Damian smiled slightly. “Well, you got me,” he said. “Maybe I could call you my girlfriend?”

Cassandra smiled too. “Yeah, I like the sound of that.”


	4. Chapter 4

“What are you doing?”

“Term paper.”

“This early in the morning?” Cassandra got up, squinting at Damian across the room. Somehow his desk ended up over by her side of the bed, but things were like that sometimes.

“I’ll try to make it quick,” Damian answered.

“I’m hungry anyway.” Cassandra sighed, standing up. “Good luck with your paper.”

“Thanks love.”

“Finally,” Caleb said. “It only took them, what, almost a year?”

“Shouldn’t you be jealous about now?” Lilith asked.

“Probably,” Caleb answered, snorting. “But since when did I ever do anything I was _supposed_ to be doing?”

“You shouldn’t sound so proud, Caleb,” Lilith said, her tone wry and almost admonishing.

“Why not?” Caleb asked, smirking. His fangs never did go away. Maybe they never would. “Life’s no fun if you always play by the rules.”

“Dang it,” Caleb said, sighing. His gaze turned to the side, catching sight of the rest of the city across the water. Sometimes, Caleb figured technology was so unreliable because if your laptop broke around noon on a pretty day, you’d at least spend a few minutes staring forlornly out the window at the rest of the world. He and Lilith had been vampires too long. He still had a fear of the sun, of being outside during the day, and he had _no earthly idea_ how to interact with Sims that looked to be around the same age most would assume he was.

“… wonder if Cassandra can fix it.” She was good with magic; specifically, _repairing things_ with magic. It was just a shame she was so into Damian. She deserved to be spoilt, not chase a pretty boy.

Then again, given half the chance, Caleb would chase that pretty boy too, so he probably wasn’t one to talk.

“Sorry,” Damian murmured, turning to face Cassandra.

She could sort of make him out in the dark, one hand reaching over to caress his cheek. “Don’t be,” she whispered. “It’s not your fault.” Another night, another nightmare. He had them from time to time, and he hadn’t mentioned it when they’d decided to move into the same room, but it kind of explained a few things.

“Shouldn’t have to deal with me and my childish -“

“It’s not childish,” Cassandra interrupted. “It’s real, Damian. And it’s okay.” She’d promised him without saying the words when they’d started dating that she wouldn’t ever hurt him on purpose, and judging him too harshly for the things he’d lived through, that was hurting him.

“You’re too good to me,” Damian said, reaching over and hiding against her and the blankets.

“There’s no such thing,” she answered. “Try and get some sleep.”

“How goes the new arrangements?” Caleb asked.

Damian looked embarrassed. He was trying to forget their first night together, but Cassandra didn’t think he had anything to be embarrassed _for_. Some people had nightmares. Oh well.

“Just fine,” Cassandra answered tartly. “When are you going to get a girlfriend? Or a boyfriend, as the case may be…”

Caleb snorted softly. “Whenever a cutie falls out of the sky,” he said. “… or into my arms. Watcher, _that’d_ be something to see.”

“That’s not very fair,” Cassandra replied.

“Nobody said I was!” Caleb answered, and then happily bounced off down the hall.

Cassandra sighed, turning to Damian.

“I think he heard,” Damian murmured.

“So what?” Cassandra asked. “My man’s got feelings, oh well. You know what’s hot? Feelings. I’m not into robots, Dami.”

“Robots might be _quieter_ ,” Damian argued.

Cassandra snorted. “And _boringer_.”

Damian glanced at Cassandra. Cassandra glanced at Damian. Neither could help the snorts of giggles.

And like most times Damian spent longer than ten seconds in Cassandra’s presence, he couldn’t help but watch her. It was amazing she didn’t seem to notice how often he did, unless she _knew_ and simply didn’t care. Damian wasn’t so sure at first, but now… now he knew. He loved her, he loved her so much it was terrifying and exhilarating at the same time, and Caleb said love was supposed to be like that. Damian supposed if anyone would know the truth of it, it’d be an older vampire.

Damian loved Cassandra so much it was terrifying, exhilarating, sometimes painful for having no idea what to do with the intensity of it all, and maybe that was what scared him for so long. It still did. But sometimes, the risk of not saying anything turned more painful than the risk of saying something, and he was glad he’d taken the leap. Because now, he got to wake up to her every morning, to someone that loved and accepted him just as he was, no strings attached.

He just hoped she knew how much she meant to him.

“Damian?” Cassandra’s voice came up the stairs. “I have to go out, okay?”

“Alright,” he called back, tone half distracted.

“Did you want to come?” she asked.

“Not right now,” he answered. “The laptop broke again.”

“I can come fix it,” she replied.

“With magic?” he asked. “No, no no, I want to take it apart anyway and see how it works on the inside.”

There was a pause, and Damian could almost _feel_ the unease. “Okay then…” Cassandra said. “Just don’t get _shocked_.”

“I won’t,” Damian answered. _Probably_ …

A loud squeal tore through the apartment. “YES!!” came Lilith’s voice from the hallway. Cassandra giggled.

“Congratulations,” she said.

“Thank you!” Lilith exclaimed.

“What’s all the fuss?” Caleb asked, leaning around the dining room table to see the two girls.

Cassandra nodded at Lilith. “She just got her university letter.”

“Oh?” he asked. “I got mine today too. What’s yours look like?”

“I got accepted into nine distinguished programmes,” Lilith answered.

“Oh,” Caleb said, deadpan. “Why do you always have to do so much better than me?”

“I wouldn’t all the time,” Lilith replied coolly, “if you _applied_ yourself more often.”

“I do!” Caleb argued. “… what’s that even mean!” he eventually added.

Lilith arched an eyebrow. “It means spend a little less time flirting on Simstagram,” she said.

“I don’t _flirt_ on Simstagram, what kind of desperate trash do you take me for, woman? … flirting is for Simder.”

Lilith didn’t answer, just arched an eyebrow, and meandered down the hall. And Caleb might’ve started considering his life choices.

“Cassandra Goth,” Damian started, falling to one knee. Cassandra’s breath caught in her throat. “You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met, inside and out, and if you’ll have me, I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

He reached into his pocket, taking out a ring. It wasn’t anything special, but the thought he’d put into it was there. Cassandra couldn’t help but smile at it. Caleb was always talking about how Damian didn’t treat her right, being as touch and go as he was, but Cassandra knew it was just that Damian had been hurt before. He really was sweet, after you got past his fear response, and it’d taken her so long to do it, but she didn’t regret a second of it, because this was the man she loved.

“And I hope you say yes,” Damian went on. “Because I don’t have any contingency plans for if you say no.”

“Morgyn!” Damian almost sounded more excited to see Morgyn than anyone had heard him sound in a while.

“Damian,” Morgyn greeted back, albeit much calmer. “I heard on the grapevine you’ve got yourself a girlfriend these days. Nice place, too.”

“Thanks,” Damian said. “It was actually Cassandra’s idea to move here, something about the city view. Hey, are you staying long?”

“Staying long?” Morgyn looked bemused.

“What’s with the face?” Damian asked.

Cassandra came out right then, handing Morgyn something sparkly and silver. “Here’s your key, I’ve got everything moved over from – oh… hi honey,” she said, smiling at Damian.

“Key, what key?” Damian asked.

Cassandra smiled, gesturing at Morgyn. “Meet our new roommate,” she said.

“WHAT?!” Damian practically bounced up and down right then and there, and Morgyn couldn’t help the laugh. “You’re staying?! But what about Magic Realm?”

“I made arrangements, don’t worry about it,” Morgyn said. “I think he’s happy.”

“Happy?! I could KISS her!” Damian exclaimed.

“Ugh, PDA,” Morgyn grumbled.

“Oh please, like you haven’t done worse,” Damian said.

“The difference, dear brother, is we don’t talk about mine.” Morgyn answered, smirking, and then headed into the apartment.

Cassandra smiled. Maybe having Morgyn around would be good for Damian.

“Oooh…” Caleb noticed the flash of blond to one side, and turned back around. That was a Sim he hadn’t seen before, but the resemblance to Damian was uncanny. “Hi there,” he said, sliding into a seat.

“Good morning,” Morgyn greeted pleasantly. Whatever it was Morgyn thought about the newcomer was carefully concealed. One never exposed their entire hand right off the bat, of course.

Caleb smiled slightly. “Ah, I’m Caleb. Caleb Vatore.”

“Morgyn Ember,” Morgyn replied. “Damian’s twin.” Their resemblance was a lot more notable now that they were _mostly_ shaped the same way, but they’d looked a lot alike even before when they were kids.

“Just visiting?” Caleb asked.

“No, I moved in,” Morgyn answered. “Cassandra asked me to.” And Morgyn wasn’t going to complain about seeing Damian more often, particularly since, as Damian now mentioned, Damian and Cassandra were engaged. (And just when was Damian going to tell Morgyn that?!)

Caleb smiled a little brighter. “Well, let me welcome you wholeheartedly.” Caleb _might_ have missed out on Damian, _and_ Cassandra, but here was Morgyn Ember, a cutie just dropped into his lap, and no, Caleb was not going to miss his chance.

“Nnnf,” Cassandra said under her breath. “Boy I hate it when you leave, but I love watching you walk away…”

“I heard that, Cassie,” Damian replied, smiling.

“You were _supposed to_ …” Cassandra sing-songed. Oh no, the fire had most certainly not died in the last few days. If anything, their relationship had become somehow stronger, but she felt more connected and in sync with Damian than she’d ever felt before. No matter how much work it was to get here, it was worth it, to her.

Maybe it wouldn’t last forever; few things did. But for now, they were both very happy.

“So what’s the deal?” Lilith asked, as they all settled into their seats at Nine East. “Are you getting paid to show up and bring this place business because you’re here?”

“Nope,” Cassandra answered. “We’re just here because I didn’t feel like cooking this morning.” Of course, Cassandra did all the cooking around their apartment, but it was for the best. She’d never eaten a normal quality meal in her life, and it showed. She had very high standards for the food that went in her mouth.

“Oh, okay,” Lilith answered. “Not sure why you wouldn’t want to be wearing a disguise.”

“They probably won’t bother us,” Cassandra said. “A restaurant is the one place a celebrity can go without people assuming they want to be bothered. Restaurants are a pretty obvious ‘I’m just here to eat’ sign.” That much was to be glad for. Cassandra would probably have a fit if she ended up having to deal with paparazzi right now.

“I won’t worry, then,” Lilith replied.

“Good,” Cassandra said. “We’re here to enjoy and relax a little, not worry. You should try the nectar.”

Lilith laughed. “Yeah, maybe.” It did remind her a little bit of plasma, but maybe the white one would be fine.

“What’s this for?” Damian asked, between giggles.

“Nothing,” Cassandra said. “I just wanted to remind you I love you.”

Damian made a wry expression. “You don’t have to do that.”

“Of course I do,” Cassandra replied. “It wouldn’t do to have you listening to your anxiety and forgetting.”

“Do you feel okay?” Caleb seemed sincerely concerned, so Cassandra frowned slightly.

“I feel fine,” she said. And that was true, for the most part. “Why?” It was an interesting question, to be sure.

“You just seem a bit off,” Caleb answered. “Hard to say what I mean. I could probably pinpoint it in a few minutes when I was still a vampire, but my senses are duller now. There are just weird echoes of my vampire abilities now. And you’re just… _off_.”

Cassandra tilted her head. She felt fine. Well, aside from the cold she was just getting over, and eating at Nine East had turned out to be a terrible idea. Not only was the food mediocre, but she’d also contracted food poisoning.

She sure did report that instantly and threaten them with media coverage.

“I’m fine,” she repeated. “There’s nothing really different I don’t – …” Well actually… she looked surprised, and then her eyebrows furrowed.

Caleb looked unsurprised, giving her a knowing look. “Damian’s upstairs playing R.E.F.U.G.E.,” he said.

“Thanks,” Cassandra answered, standing and going upstairs.

“What was that?” Morgyn asked, once Cassandra had gone.

Caleb smiled. “Sounds like we’re getting a bouncing bundle of screaming joy.”

“Damian?” Cassandra called, tapping on the bedroom door.

“Yeah?” Damian answered, then immediately cursed at the computer. A soldier had shot his character.

“I hate to interrupt, but, do you have a minute? It’s important.” Cassandra wandered into the room, coming to stand beside Damian’s chair.

She seemed a little upset, somehow, and Damian immediately quit the game. “Yeah, absolutely,” he said, taking her hand. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing _wrong_ ,” Cassandra said. “But Caleb pointed out I was off, and I did some thinking and some testing and… Damian I’m pregnant.”

Damian’s eyes went wide in surprise. “You’re – ?”

“Mhm.” Cassandra nodded.

“We’re going to be – ?”

“Yes.” Cassandra nodded again.

Damian seemed stunned for a heartbeat. Cassandra got worried, but then Damian’s expression broke into a joyful grin. “We’re going to be _parents_!” he exclaimed, standing up. “Cassandra this is great! Oh gosh, we need to do renovations, to make room, and then do school research, and and you’ll need a doctor’s appointment, and -“

“Slow down,” Cassandra said, smiling. “It doesn’t have to be done all at once.”

“I know!” Damian said. “I know but I’m just – I’m so _happy_!” Damian reached over, planting a kiss on Cassandra’s cheek, and then picked her up and spun around. Cassandra laughed at his antics, but was grateful when he put her feet back down on the floor.

Yes, they were going to be parents, and Cassandra was glad it was with him.


	5. Chapter 5

Ugh. This one sure moved a lot already. Cassandra had to wonder if that was normal, or if it was just this particular baby. Then again, Damian and Morgyn never seemed to sit still; maybe it was an Ember thing.

One thing was for sure, she _hated_ morning sickness, and if it was always going to be like this, maybe it was going to be the one kid for them, and no more.

For a moment, Cassandra thought to call her mother. Bella had birthed two children, maybe she knew a magic fix for all this rearrangement of innards that was going on. Maybe after a nap. On Damian, because it was _his_ child she was carrying around, anyway.

“Good morning,” Morgyn greeted.

Caleb thought he might be imagining things, but Morgyn always seemed happier to see him than everyone else. (Barring Damian. One _should_ be happy to see one’s sibling, after all, and Caleb was always notably happier to see Lilith, too.) He wasn’t sure if he was feeling brave. (Two flops didn’t inspire confidence.) “Good morning,” he greeted back, hoping his voice didn’t shake. And what was Morgyn wearing, because good heck it looked _good_.

“Did you sleep okay?” Morgyn asked.

“I did, thank you,” Caleb answered. “You?”

“Alright,” Morgyn replied. “Having a hard time getting used to the bright lights of the city.”

“We could get thicker curtains if…”

“Oh no,” Morgyn said. “I’ll get used to it. It’s only been a few days.”

“Okay.” Silence settled between them. Caleb tried not to fidget too much. He remembered how much trouble Cassandra had with Damian. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to be too bold. Morgyn might react the same way.

“You look really nice in white,” Morgyn said suddenly. And then turned to go up the stairs, and _winked_ along the way.

Caleb laughed quietly to himself. Maybe it wouldn’t play out quite the same way as Cassandra and Damian.

“Morgyn,” Damian called, sounding a little frantic and sitting at the bar next to his sibling, “please tell me you know where Cassandra went?” Their wedding had only just begun, but the guests were all here, the mixologist was present and working, and where was the bride?

“In the kitchen,” Morgyn answered. “Baking the cake.”

“What?” Damian asked, and then sighed. “Why is she making her own wedding cake?”

“You know her,” Morgyn said, smirking in amusement. “She’s so picky about foodstuffs anyway, it’s probably for the best. Besides, it’s also cheaper.”

That was true. Damian did not have an argument for that. Aside from that they had plenty of money and if Cassandra wanted the wedding of her dreams, they could likely afford it. On the other hand, he also recognised it was unlikely to be the wedding of her dreams if she didn’t do some things herself.

“Calm down,” Morgyn said, reaching over and patting Damian’s shoulder. “Everything will be fine, you’ll see.”

“I keep expecting her to change her mind,” Damian whispered.

“Just remember she’s Cassandra,” Morgyn said. “And Cassandra is only Cassandra.”

Cassandra smiled shyly. “I actually never figured out what to say here.”

“That’s fine,” Damian said. “You can wing it if you want.” Sometimes winging it turned out alright, and it meant more because it was from the heart.

Cassandra seemed to consider it for a moment, glancing at the crowd. Her eyes met her mother’s, who nodded encouragingly. “Well, I guess we can start with, I never thought it was possible for me to love someone so much,” Cassandra said. “I always thought that kind of thing belonged in story books and fairy tales, and that reality was a little different, not for girls like me. I’m glad I was wrong. I’m glad I met you. Every day is a new adventure, and I love finding new things about you, good and bad, and I hope that, whenever you experience things that hurt, you won’t be afraid to tell me.”

Damian was quiet for a moment, smiling slightly. “I wasn’t ready for that,” he said.

“Wing it,” Cassandra whispered.

“Words just aren’t enough,” he said. “It’s fascinating to me how we try to make words convey certain ideas and feelings but it’s fairly common that words aren’t enough. I thought, for a long time, that I’d be alone forever, because no one could ever love someone like me. I don’t make it easy to love me, and I know it, and I’m sorry for that, but somehow you make it seem easy. I can only hope that I can love you back even half as much. … and I also make fun of you enough to keep your celebrity status from getting to your head.”

Cassandra laughed. Didn’t he see, that was part of what she loved about him? He wasn’t difficult to love at all. It was just a matter of loving _all_ of him, and not just the parts of his personality that were idealistic.

“I think this is the part where you kiss!” Caleb called from the back row. Cassandra and Damian laughed, but they kissed alright.

“AAAHHH, AHHAH, IT’S CASSANDRA GOTH, AAHHH, I’M AT HER _WEDDING_!!” A thunk sounded as the girl fell over into the grass. Alice, one of the Goths’ family friends from Willow Creek, glanced down at her.

“What’s her problem?” she asked.

“She’s a big fan, can’t help it,” Morgyn answered, head shaking. Grace had never been quite so… _so_ , before.

“Why her _wedding_ …” Bella grumbled.

Because privacy was an illusion when you were famous, of course.

“Oh my gosh, I love your work,” the woman squealed. Cassandra had only been asked to take pictures with probably four or five fans by now. Someone had let it leak she was here, the sanctity of her wedding be darned, apparently.

“Thank you,” Cassandra answered. She was too happy right now to be truly annoyed.

“Can I have your autograph?” the woman asked. “Please?”

Cassandra glanced around, looking for Damian. He, it seemed, was taking the opportunity to get to know Alexander, and Cassandra was glad for it. Alexander was almost more of a wallflower than _she_ had been at his age. “Sure,” she decided, holding a hand out.

“Oh my gosh!! Thank you!!” The woman handed her a picture and a pen, and Cassandra dutifully signed and returned it. It made her day, and it took only a few moments.

Why not?

“You guys aren’t a mafia family, are you?” Damian asked.

Mortimer simply got a very interesting look on his face. Damian paled, and Mortimer laughed. “No,” he said. “No that would be the Fengs. Don’t tell them I said that.”

“Oh.” Why was Mr. Goth aware of which rich families were mafia? Then again, maybe it was just a rich family thing.

“And before you ask, the Landgraabs aren’t vampires,” Mortimer went on. “Despite how vampiric their business methods are.”

Damian snorted. “I’ll take your word for it.” Thankfully, Damian had no experience with the Landgraabs. And he had no intention of having experience with the Landgraabs, either.

“You take care of Cassandra, understand?” Mortimer said.

“I intend to,” Damian answered.

“She is more delicate than she shows, and stronger than she knows.”

Damian smiled. “Yeah Mr. Goth,” he said. “That’s part of why I fell in love with her. Her broken pieces and mine aligned in just the right ways as to fit together.”

Mortimer tilted his head and smiled. That was the way Mortimer had always hoped someone would talk about his little girl someday.

“ _FINALLY_ ,” Lilith happily declared, jumping onto the treadmill. “I haven’t been working out all day. No thanks to _someone’s_ wedding taking _all day_!”

Cassandra snorted somewhere behind her, getting out of her wedding dress and back into normal clothes. “It was a _wedding_ , Lilith,” she said.

“And it took all day,” Lilith insisted. “I’m getting so close to my fitness goals, I can feel it!”

“If you say so,” Cassandra answered. “Whatever makes you feel better. Hey, thanks for being there anyway.” Even if her dress _was_ more old-fashioned, she’d looked great in it.

“Of course,” Lilith replied. “That’s what friends are for. Even if you _did_ keep me out _all day_.”

Cassandra laughed. Of course she wouldn’t let that go.

Caleb tilted his head, nodding at something on the table beside Morgyn. “What is that, anyway?”

Morgyn glanced at it. “Ah, it’s called a Glimmerstone.”

“What’s it for?” Caleb asked.

For a moment, Morgyn wasn’t sure if answering was a good idea. On second thought, Caleb and Cassandra had been friends a long time. It may not hurt anything. “For returning to Magic Realm,” Morgyn said.

“Oh. Cassandra mentioned that place once,” Caleb said, thoughtful. “It’s like uh, floating islands or something in space.”

Morgyn looked bemused. “Or something.”

“What’s being a spellcaster like, anyway?”

Morgyn smirked. “Want to find out?”

Caleb blinked. “This isn’t like becoming a vampire, is it?”

“Not really,” Morgyn said. “You can undo it much easier. And what’s not to love about being able to freeze paparazzi when they start really getting pushy?” Morgyn may or may not love to do that.  
Caleb snorted. “You can freeze things?”

“And set them on fire,” Morgyn answered. “Oh, and fix things. Potions do lots of interesting things, too.”

“There are potions?” Caleb asked. “Like, like chemistry?”

“Sort of,” Morgyn answered.

“Okay,” Caleb decided. “I do want to find out.”

Morgyn smiled, and stood up. And maybe if Morgyn was feeling kind later, Caleb might get some… personal magic lessons…

It was kind of silly Cassandra couldn’t even go to the museum without a disguise anymore. She remembered back when nobody knew her name. It was much easier to blend in, then. Damian hadn’t kept his name, deciding instead to take hers. Cassandra would wonder why, but she did know that Damian had a falling out with he and Morgyn’s parents, something about Morgyn. Cassandra hadn’t asked beyond that. Whenever Damian wanted to tell her, he would. Until then, that was between Damian and Morgyn.

She should probably go home soon, but it’d been a long time since she could look at the artwork in a museum. She was usually too busy painting and doing coursework.

Ah, how was she going to juggle university and raising a child? Well. There were two parents for a reason, right? Hmm. Maybe she’d go drop in on her family…

“How’re you feeling?” Alexander asked.

Cassandra smiled. “Alright,” she said. “My back hurts constantly.”

“That doesn’t sound fun,” Alexander said.

“It could be a lot worse,” she said. “The part I don’t like is the nausea. Morning sickness, they call it, but you can get it at any time of the day.”

“Then why is it called morning sickness?” he asked.

“Who knows.”

“It’s more common in the morning upon waking up,” Bella explained. That made sense. Cassandra’s story was still that it was stupid.

“You’ll make a great mother, Cassandra,” Mortimer said.

“Thanks, daddy.” At least someone thought so. Most days, Cassandra wasn’t so sure herself.


	6. Chapter 6

“I’m nervous.”

Morgyn sighed. “You’re always nervous, Damian.”

“Aren’t you nervous?” Damian asked, squinting at Morgyn. It always seemed like Morgyn had everything together, all the little ducks arranged in a neat little row. Damian’s ducks were decidedly _not_ in a little row. Actually, he was pretty sure they weren’t even all ducks. His seemed to be mostly geese. Wrangling geese? Not happening.

“This is a big step,” Morgyn said, neatly avoiding the question. No, Morgyn was _not_ nervous. Not about the baby, at least. “Have you even started on the nursery?”

“No,” Damian said. “Cassandra’s usually not in the mood to talk about it. … or about _anything_ , because she’s always sick.”

“Pregnancy is very difficult on the body, you know,” Morgyn said.

“I know,” Damian answered, sliding down in his seat. “Just wish I could help.”

“Try not to worry so much, for one,” Morgyn advised. “And maybe just take it a day at a time.” Boy if Damian wasn’t an anxious _wreck_ sometimes. Side-effect of all the bickering back home, for sure. Morgyn went quiet for a moment, and then said, “You didn’t have to fight with them over me.”

Damian suddenly looked almost offended. “Of course I did,” he said, tone more sure and strong. “I told you when we were kids, didn’t I? Even if no one else is, I’ll always be on your side, Morgyn.”

Morgyn’s gaze cast to the table, a smile creeping up. As much as Morgyn appreciated the sentiment, Damian had ruined his own life over Morgyn. Damian didn’t seem to see a problem with this.

“So…” Damian started. “Out of sheer curiosity, is there a reason you gave Caleb magic?”

Morgyn arched an eyebrow. “You didn’t notice?”

“Notice what?”

Morgyn snorted softly. “Noob.”

Damian didn’t argue, just pouted, and Morgyn laughed.

Everyone else had long gone to sleep, but Morgyn was still up, watching the bright lights from the city below. Caleb hadn’t come upstairs, either, and it was beginning to be worrisome. The former vampire _liked_ to pretend that he didn’t need sleep, and Morgyn couldn’t help but be concerned about it. What was even worse was, Caleb _seemed_ to understand humans needed sleep, and the kinds of terrible things they could end up suffering without it.

Morgyn sighed, shuffling down the stairs. Sure enough, Caleb had fallen asleep on the couch. Morgyn couldn’t help watching for the moment. It was difficult to imagine Caleb was ever an ostensibly dangerous vampire, but not all vampires were terrible, just as not all spellcasters were kind. After a heartbeat or two, Morgyn shuffled over and lightly touched Caleb’s arm, ready to bolt if he reacted badly to the sudden contact. “Caleb,” Morgyn said, softly.

“I don’wanna geddup,” Caleb mumbled.

“You should go to bed,” Morgyn insisted.

“Noooooo,” Caleb huffed. “Cause’en I gotta wake up, an’yer not there anymore.”

Morgyn almost turned a slight bit pink, but managed to fight it off. “You can sleep longer in bed.” And maybe not fall out of bed, like Caleb often fell off the couch.

Caleb snorted. “Okaaaaay… only cause the pretty one asked me toooooo…” And Caleb stood up, and sluggishly made his way up the staircase and presumably to his room. Hopefully the Watcher guided him to the right one. Then again, everyone’s doors were locked. Privacy was a beautiful thing when you lived with four other Sims.

Morgyn smiled slightly. Caleb really did seem to have gotten a crush at some point. Morgyn couldn’t say the feeling wasn’t reciprocated, but just like Damian had, Morgyn had also gotten hurt a few times. Past a certain point, you got too old for it, but then, if anyone in this house was going to understand, it’d be an ex-vampire that was probably older than Morgyn was.

And, interestingly, shortly after being made human again, Caleb had the slight taste of dormant magic. Not powerful, Morgyn didn’t think, but certainly present. Damian had missed it. Damian missed a lot of things no thanks to his anxiety, so Morgyn didn’t hold it against him.

What _was_ interesting to the former Sage, though, was where that residual magic had _come_ from. Had Caleb always had it? Or was it a new development? If Lilith developed the same, there was that answer.

Morgyn drew a breath in, and then stood up and went upstairs. Sleep did sound like a good idea. Morgyn could figure the rest of this out later.

“And here in your arms,  
is where I belong.  
The beating of your heart,  
like a beautiful song.”

Cassandra loosed a pleased sigh. “Did you really write that for me?”

“I did,” Damian said. “It took a long time to figure out the words for. This writing thing is more difficult than it sounds.”

“It’s beautiful, Damian,” she said.

“Not as beautiful as you, my love.”

“In the middle of the dining room, Lilith?” Caleb asked. She’d just eaten breakfast, and then fell over in the floor to do sit ups.

“It’s not the middle,” Lilith argued. “I am quite a number of inches off to one side -“

“That’s really not the point,” Caleb interrupted, frowning. “I’m starting to worry about you.”

“I’m still eating,” Lilith said. “And besides, you, Damian, and Morgyn never work out, so you’re probably going to get fat on all that mac and cheese you eat, one of us should still be hot next week.”

“I really resent that remark,” Caleb said, frowning. “I know you’re a health nut, but there’s nothing wrong with that. And Morgyn would still be hot either way.”

“ _Wow_!” Lilith said, laughing. “I knew you had it bad, I didn’t know you had it _that_ bad.”

“Shhh,” Caleb hushed. “Don’t tell.”

“I won’t,” Lilith said. “But you should tell Morgyn yourself.”

Caleb frowned, and then sighed, setting his arms on the table. “I didn’t intend to. I’d rather just stay friends, rather than complicate things.”

Lilith arched an eyebrow. “Is that so?” she asked. “You’d better make a move, boy. Someone else will come along and snatch Morgyn up, just like Cassandra and Damian snatched each other up, and then what? You’ll regret that for the rest of your life and you know it.”

Caleb groaned, and his head thunked into the table. She was right, and he knew it.

“Yep,” Lilith said, nodding sagely. “Welp, good luck.”

“Do you need anything?” Damian asked.

Cassandra grumbled quietly. “I’m fine,” she said. “I feel like a whale. Not that I have any idea what whales feel like, but I imagine it’s something like this.”

Damian smiled slightly, reaching over and rubbing her shoulder. “You’re not a whale,” he said. “You’re still the most beautiful lady I’ve ever seen.”

Cassandra made a wry expression. “Did you see my mother at the wedding?” Everyone always talked about how Bella Goth was the most beautiful woman they’d ever seen, and Cassandra had to agree with them. She didn’t get her mother’s looks, not really. Her hair colour, maybe, though Cassandra’s eyes were darker than her mother’s, and otherwise, she just looked awkward. Like she’d never quite grown out of the teenage awkwardness.

“Sure,” Damian said. “And I stand by what I said. You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”

It was hard to argue with him when he said it so plainly like that.

“I’ll never get the hang of this,” Caleb said, lamenting his very unskilled abilities in spellcasting. He hadn’t even learnt his first spell yet, but the other spellcasters in the house kept saying he would eventually. That it was something that came with time, and it was okay that it took time. To be fair about it, it wasn’t like he picked up on vampire abilities overnight, either. This spellcaster thing wasn’t as easy as Morgyn and Damian made it look. Even _Cassandra_ made it look easy.

“You’re actually doing very well,” Morgyn said. “One of the easiest students I’ve ever had, and I’ve had quite a few.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Caleb said.

“You should,” Morgyn answered. “You wouldn’t _believe_ some of the numbskulls I’ve taught magic to.” Well, maybe he would, given Caleb had probably come across a few numbskulls in the vampirism business.

“I can imagine,” Caleb answered, smirking. His arm shot out and a slight burst of light unleashed.

“See?” Morgyn said. “You can at least do _that_.” Morgyn still couldn’t quite tell if the magic had always been there and the vampirism had driven it out, or if he’d developed it suddenly. Many spellcasters spoke of the non-magical that suddenly inexplicably became capable of magic, without much assistance from the Sages.

Morgyn wondered if the Magic Realm was trying to save itself by creating more potential saviours. It was difficult to say, and part of Morgyn’s interest in Caleb and his magical abilities was wondering if Caleb would display any interesting abilities or quirks. If nothing else, he’d probably make a fantastic vampire deterrent.

“Sometimes, I can’t tell if you’re encouraging me, or making fun of me,” Caleb said.

Morgyn laughed slightly. “Oh, you know,” Morgyn said. “Something like that.”

That didn’t answer the – Caleb breathed in, and then shook his head. The mysteries of Morgyn would apparently remain mysteries a little longer.

“AAAH!”

Not long after the feminine scream from the living room came a crash. “Cassandra?!” Damian’s voice came from upstairs.

“It’s happening,” Cassandra called. “The baby’s coming!” This was her first pregnancy, so she was sure it was going to be a little difficult just because of that, but it was a little bit more painful than she’d been expecting.

“I’m coming,” Damian called, and then practically flew down the stairs. “Did we get everything to the car?”

“We got it,” Caleb said from the dining room. “Just go!”

“Oh god oh god oh god…” All the way to the car. Cassandra could’ve smacked him. In the face. With her face. Gently. But mostly she was occupied with how horribly uncomfortable she was, and spared him.

“Oh please,” the receptionist said, sounding annoyed. “Why you… yes?”

“Here to check in,” Cassandra said. “Cassandra Goth for a baby delivery.”

“I see.” For some reason, she was awfully icy about it. The blond woman rolled her eyes, clicking around seemingly aimlessly. Damian stood at her side, helping her remain upright, though with the occasional contractions, that was sometimes more difficult than it seemed like it should be.

Eventually, Damian snapped. “Could you click a bit faster, we don’t want to deal with you any longer than you want to deal with us.”

“Damian,” Cassandra quietly warned.

“No, she’s being rude.”

The receptionist rolled her eyes again, but quickly wrote something down and made a few rapid clicks and some typing. “Go down the hall to the right, your room’s the one at the end. The doctor will be with you shortly.”

“Thank you,” Cassandra said, and then walked that way.

Damian grumbled. “I don’t know why you thanked her.”

“That was Nancy Landgraab,” Cassandra said.

Damian blinked once, and then looked sheepish. “I guess if I get stabbed down a back alley, we know why…”

“Oh jeez oh jeez oh jeez…”

“I figured you’d gotten that out on the way here,” Cassandra said, glancing upward at Damian over there, freaking out. “Could you at least come hold my hand?”

“Oh jeez,” Damian said, one more time, but he did reach out and take Cassandra’s hand.

“It’ll be just fine,” she said, her thumb rubbing his fingers. “Everything will be fine. Trust the nice doctor lady.”

“I trust _you_ and Morgyn and no one else,” Damian said.

“Then trust the me that trusts the nice doctor lady,” Cassandra said.

Damian frowned, taking a few breaths, and then smiled, albeit strained. “Because you asked me to.” Inwardly, he was still freaking out.

_Please welcome Esmeralda Goth, Esme for short._


	7. Chapter 7

“Come here my precious Esme,” Cassandra cooed. Esmeralda looked at her mother in confusion for a moment, and then stepped forward once… twice… “That’s a good girl!” Cassandra said.

“She’s going to make it this time,” Damian said, barely a whisper, to the side.

“Yes she is,” Cassandra agreed. And sure enough, the not quite so little girl fell into Cassandra’s arms in triumph.

“Yaaay!” Damian said.

“Yaaaay!” Cassandra repeated.

Esme giggled. These two big people were weirdos, but at least they weren’t scary.

“Why are you wearing a coat?” Lilith asked between bites. “Aren’t you hot?”

Damian fidgeted. “I just feel better with it on right now.” Sometimes, Damian needed extra layers of… _something_ , because he felt oddly vulnerable and the covering at least helped stave it off. Oddly, he didn’t have that problem around Cassandra.

“If you say so,” Lilith said. “Hey, where’s Esme?”

“Upstairs, probably,” Damian answered. “Why?”

“She’s too cute,” Lilith replied. “I wanna go hang out with her and maybe read something. You know, and then go jogging.”

“Of course.” What else would Lilith be doing?

An odd splashing sound came from the bathroom. Morgyn meandered in just in time to catch Esme splashing in the toilet. Morgyn thought it was amusing.

“ESME!” Cassandra, not so much. “We don’t play in the toilet!”

“Awh come on, Cass,” Morgyn said, bemused. “When you’re two, splashing in the toilet is one of the funnest things!”

“Don’t encourage her,” Cassandra said, almost snarling.

“Wow, the mama tiger came out.” That was a first. Morgyn didn’t know she had it in her.

“And if auncle Morgyn starts encouraging you to play in the toilet,” Cassandra said, looking at Esme, “we’ll just dump toilet water over those pretty blond curls, won’t we?”

Esme giggled. She still didn’t know what these big people were talking about most of the time, but the face Morgyn just made was funny.

“Hey!” Morgyn protested. “Don’t teach her _that_!”

“Don’t tell my kid she can play in the toilet, and I won’t dump toilet water on your head!”

“… fair.”

“Good. Glad we had this discussion.”

Was that a discussion? Because it really didn’t feel like one…

“Soo… how are things with you and Cassandra…?” Morgyn wouldn’t know anymore. Gone were the days Morgyn was across the hall from Cassandra and Damian’s shower, and thank the Watcher for that one.

“Alright,” Damian answered, and then tilted his head at the chess table. “Have you told Caleb yet?”

Morgyn blinked. “Told him what?”

“What do you mean, told him _what_?” That was a dumb question if he’d ever heard one.

“I mean… told him what?”

Damian simply gave Morgyn a _look_. That look was very similar to some of the looks Morgyn gave Damian on occasion, and at that moment, the former Sage learnt what it felt like to be on the receiving end of one of those. (Not great.)

“There’s no point,” Morgyn corrected.

“And why is that?”

“It just is.”

Damian sighed, nudging a chess piece across the board. “I didn’t cover for you so you could waste opportunities like this.”

“I’m fine with things how they are,” Morgyn said. “And Caleb doesn’t know what he’s getting into.”

“So tell him,” Damian said, tone flat. “You know what your problem is? You’re afraid he might actually love you anyway.”

“That is not why,” Morgyn argued.

Damian huffed a sigh, standing, and leaning over the board. “You can lie to Caleb,” Damian whispered, “and you might even be able to lie to yourself. But you can’t lie to me. I know you, Morgyn, better than anyone else, and you can’t tell me that’s not why. Because it sure as heck all was why I was afraid of Cassandra. And you know what? You can’t spend the rest of your life afraid.”

Damian walked away, and Morgyn sighed and slid down in the chair. Maybe Damian was right. Not that Morgyn would ever admit it.

“WEEEEE, up you go, you ready?”

Cassandra giggled, watching the two of them. Damian had been so excited to be a father, and now that Esme was here, he was living up to the challenge quite well. So well, in fact, it was almost scary, because Cassandra couldn’t help but wonder what terrible things were in store thanks to everything going so well for so long.

She was trying not to let the depressing thoughts take up too much of her mind. As always, it was easier said than done.

“What’s wrong?” Damian asked, setting Esme down. The girl toddled off, giggling and babbling (and probably drooling) without a care in the world.

“Nothing,” Cassandra answered softly. “Just thinking.”

“About?” Damian pressed. Sometimes, Cassandra seemed partially here and partially somewhere else, and he could relate. He always was, too. But this time, right now, he wanted to be fully in the same place she was.

Cassandra shook her head. “Nothing,” she said. “Everything. I don’t know. About where our lives are going, and how excited I am to see that place.”

Damian smiled softly, reaching over and gently taking Cassandra’s hands. “I want you to know something,” he said, very quietly, leaning closer so she could hear. “Before you, I didn’t think it was possible to love someone that wasn’t Morgyn so much. I didn’t think it was possible for someone that wasn’t Morgyn to love _me_ so much. Every morning I wake up and I see you and I think, ‘Wow, I am so lucky.’ Even if, someday in the future, we fall apart, and we can’t say we love one another anymore, I want you to know you’ve given me something I never thought I’d have. Thank you, Cassie.”

Cassandra smiled, turning slightly pink, and bowed her head a bit. And then, she drew in a breath, and said, “You should’ve used that for your wedding vows.”

Damian paused a moment, and then laughed. “I know,” he said. “ _Now_ I think of that.”

But of course.

Maybe Damian was right. Maybe Damian was wrong.

Which one did Morgyn bank on? Which voice was the voice Morgyn was supposed to listen to? It was difficult to sort out, and some part of Morgyn resented Damian for bringing that up and using it as a weapon. Morgyn was already angry enough over it, not at Damian, at the stupid plum that Morgyn had been back then that’d run away from it all and pretended it wasn’t a problem.

But Morgyn never talked about that, and neither did Damian. Sometimes it felt like there was a giant chasm between them full of words neither of them wanted to say, and sometimes it felt like that with Caleb, too.

Maybe Damian was right. But… maybe Damian was wrong…

For the most part, Morgyn tried to put it out of mind, and then Caleb came down the stairs, and suavely sat down across the chess table. Morgyn quirked an eyebrow upward.

“I uh…” Caleb looked a bit nervous. “I had something to tell you, if you wouldn’t mind listening.”

“Okay,” Morgyn agreed. “What’s that?”

Caleb fidgeted. “Would you mind standing up for a second?”

“Sure…” And Morgyn stood up. Caleb stood up, too, and one second Caleb was fidgeting even more, and Morgyn was very confused, and then their lips met, for just a moment, and Morgyn just about died on the spot.

Maybe Damian was right…

“Oh,” Morgyn breathed.

“Yeah…”

“ _Oh_.”

“… is that a bad-?”

“No!” Morgyn’s head shook. “No, just… somehow unexpected.”

“I… I’ve liked you for a long time, Morgyn,” Caleb said. “I just don’t know how to express it. … last time I was human, I’d be giving your father a bunch of chickens about now, but things don’t work that way anymore.”

Morgyn laughed. “Ah, no, they don’t. I’d say that was effective.”

“Would… could I call myself your boyfriend?” Caleb asked. He sounded so hopeful.

Morgyn almost died again. “… yeah,” was the breathless answer. “Yeah you can.”

Caleb instantly lit up, and Morgyn’s heart kind of melted. That was adorable, and it made Morgyn kind of giddy.

“Then… how about fiancee?” Caleb asked, kneeling down and holding up a ring.

When did he get – it didn’t _matter_ when he _got_. Morgyn heaved a very put-upon sigh, glancing toward the wall. “Zero tact.”

“What?”

“Just… zero tact.” And with that, Morgyn walked off.

Caleb couldn’t help the squirming as he sat down in his seat.

Lilith glanced over at him from her game. “You look like you swallowed a fire wyrm,” she said.

“I might’ve done something… really stupid…” Caleb said.

Lilith arched an eyebrow. “Now I’m just intrigued.”

“You see,” Caleb started, “I got this… ring…”

“Oh no…”

“And… I asked Morgyn…”

“Ohhhh no…” Lilith shook her head, sighing. “Caleb, that was _way_ too fast.”

“Yeah,” Caleb said. “I figured that out… about when Morgyn walked away.”

Lilith drew in a sharp breath. “Oh dear. If you’re lucky, you didn’t do any real damage. Morgyn might let you live it down eventually. _I_ sure won’t, though.”

“Seriously?” Caleb asked.

“Hey, remember that time you tried to give Morgyn a ring the day you confessed your feelings?”

Caleb groaned, head thunking into the table. “Watcher strike me dead.”

“So, you ready?” Bella asked. This was Caleb’s first trip to Magic Realm, and it was mostly brought on because Bella, Cassandra’s mother, challenged him to a magic duel. And it was something to get his mind off Morgyn.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Caleb answered.

“You look like you’ve had a rough day,” she said.

“I’d rather not think about it.”

“Ohh,” Bella said. “One of _those_ … Here we are.” Bella stopped.

Caleb stopped, too. “How does this work?”

“The goal is to knock your opponent of their feet,” Bella answered, waving her arms and drawing her magic to her fingers. “Get creative! I wanna see what you’ve learned!”

_-Caleb squeaking in a fearsome manner-_

“Nicely done!” Bella said, standing up and brushing the dust off her dress. “You did really well for your first duel.”

“Thanks,” Caleb said, smiling a little. It was nice to know he hadn’t messed _everything_ up today.

“You can duel other spellcasters for spells, potion ingredients, and such. It’s good practise, and lots of fun, too. It was nice to duel you!”

“Thanks Mrs. Goth,” Caleb said.

“Oh, you can call me Bella,” she answered. “You’re Cassandra’s oldest friend, you know, you’ve earned that right.”

“I am?” Caleb asked.

“Sure,” Bella replied. “And, since I’ve never said it before, thank you for being her friend. You made a big difference in her life.”

Caleb got a wry expression. “I don’t think so.”

“You did,” Bella insisted. “Without you being friends with and encouraging her, I don’t think she’d have ever left the manor and made her own life. You make more of a difference in her life than you think. Well, have a nice night. I have to make sure Alexander’s actually sleeping.”

As Bella left, Caleb wondered. Maybe that was a kind of love. Maybe love wasn’t always passion and romance. And maybe he had more to learn about being human than he thought.

“This is it, right?” she asked. Her sister smirked to herself, and nodded.

“Yes,” Sarnai replied. “This is it. Forgotten Hollow, and it’s just fortunate the Count was kind enough to leave us somewhere to live, yes it is…”

Lakshmi resisted the urge to hold her head. Sarnai was never quite all there in the head. Well, no. There was a time she was, but Lakshmi had long forgotten that time. Sarnai was turned too young. It was a little traumatic, and she was never the same.

“What are we doing first?” Lakshmi asked. It was easier to nudge Sarnai the right way than try to make sense of her psychobabble.

Sarnai tilted her head, and then grinned like the Cheshire cat. “The ones in the Realm go first,” she said. “You tell us, Laky. Tell us how to get past the barriers.”


	8. Chapter 8

“And the princess _jumped_ across the bridge, praying she could make it…” Cassandra read, her voice animated but hushed. Damian sat not far away, on their bed beside Esme’s door. And soon enough the girl’s quiet breaths evened out, and Cassandra gradually lowered her voice until she’d hushed entirely. Esme didn’t stir.

Cassandra closed the book, quietly sliding it back into place on the bookshelf, and then tucked Esmeralda in.

“Some days I still can’t believe we’re parents,” Damian whispered.

Cassandra smiled. “I know,” she said. “It’s kind of like a dream.”

Damian held his hands out, and Cassandra slid her hands into his. Damian gently pulled her into his lap, and just so, their lips met. He never wondered if she really did love him. He could tell by the way she looked at him, so much like how he looked at her.

“The only problem with Mondays is they come with homework,” Caleb grumbled.

“Could be worse,” Morgyn said. “At least we’re lucky enough to _have_ homework I guess. Cassandra could’ve told you to go earn your own tuition.”

Caleb laughed. “Yeah… well I think I could’ve managed. I do have some money put away from selling the manor in Forgotten Hollow.”

“Did anyone even buy it?” Morgyn asked. There were no stories of the Hollow’s population going up, that was for sure.

“Yeah,” Caleb answered. “Some friends of mine.”

“Of the fanged variety, huh?” Morgyn asked.

Caleb snorted. “What other variety would survive in Forgotten Hollow?” None, that was what.

“You know,” Cassandra said, sitting down next to Damian in the computer room. “Red and black look really good on you.”

Damian blinked in surprise. “You think so?”

“I think so.”

“Thank you,” Damian said.

“Red and black are also the Goth family colours, did you know that?” Cassandra asked. Well, they used to be purple and gold, if she remembered right, but at some point between the 1560s and the 1790s, it’d changed.

Damian snorted. “Well, nice to be inadvertently familially patriotic. Is that a thing?”

“Sure,” Cassandra said. “The cute one said it, so it is.”

“I don’t think that’s -“

“Yes it is!” Cassandra insisted, as she stood up and wandered off.

Well, Damian supposed that settled that.

Finally, it was quiet, and Sarnai could focus. She had to use most of her energy to try and break the Magic Realm’s barriers, and her sister and brother-in-law interrupting every ten seconds wasn’t helping anything. And then Lakshmi ignored her cat familiar, Kit, and he was starting to bond with Sarnai, instead. It was so overrated to be trying to read a book while petting a cat that demanded affection every five minutes.

Okay, maybe it was every hour or so. Close enough.

Sarnai drew a deep breath in, raised her hands and brought them together, and the dark energy swirled around her. Ahh, that was better… she could see the barriers in her mind, and knew what she was after. At least, if Lakshmi’s knowledge was _correct_ , and her sister was prone to blunders.

“Sarnai,” came a voice, filtering through the dark energy like molasses oozed out from a jar. Sarnai ignored it, she wasn’t interested in that.

“ **SARNAI** ,” the voice insisted. It was loud enough that time, it startled Sarnai and she hit the floor.

“Ow…” It didn’t hurt as much as it used to, when Sarnai was still living, but it did still hurt. One purple eye opened, then the other. Lakshmi was standing over her. “What?” she asked.

“Do you remember where we put the laundry detergent?” Lakshmi asked?

Sarnai breathed deeply, and stood up, brushing her jeans off. “If you continue to interrupt us, _sister_ ,” Sarnai ground out, “you will wake up on the floor in a few hours with puncture wounds.”

Lakshmi stared at Sarnai. Sarnai stared at Lakshmi.

“Sorry,” Lakshmi mumbled.

“It’s in the back room,” Sarnai said.

“Thank you.”

Sarnai didn’t answer, simply burst into shadow.

AH, perhaps, finally, she’d finally gotten it. Sarnai focused her powers, hammering the Magic Realm barriers with psychic energy. In a contest between spellcasters and vampires, most assumed spellcasters were more powerful by default. Perhaps. Of course, vampires may not be able to electrocute someone on command, but they _could_ control the minds of those who could.

The barriers resisted. She expected as much, and forced more of her mind’s power into it. She was so close to breaking them, she could almost _taste_ it. Or perhaps that was the coppery tang of her own blood coming up from the strain. The barriers swayed under her mind’s pressure, and Sarnai put more effort into it, and –

“ _SARNAI!_ “

“WATCHER, CURSE YOU!” Sarnai shouted.

“I’m sorry, but the annoying mermaid siren… thing, is here, and she’s not happy about it,” Lakshmi explained.

Sarnai’s nostrils flared in annoyance. Of course. Amiyah’s timing was most annoying, but she _had_ told Lakshmi to tell her when Amiyah arrived. Watcher, she had a migraine anyway… maybe some tea was a good idea. Those barriers were stronger than she expected…

“You’re not pawning me off on someone else, are you?” Caleb asked, shrinking slightly. Yeah, he’d messed up the other day, and proposed a little too soon, but Morgyn hadn’t seemed upset about it before. Had Morgyn’s mind changed? There were supposedly two other Sages to learn magic from, and Caleb was just hoping that wasn’t Morgyn’s intention. (He was kind of enjoying the attention.)

“Egh, no,” Morgyn said. “We’re just here to make sure the Duplicato spell isn’t going to wear off anytime soon.”

“The what?” Caleb asked.

“Duplicato,” Morgyn replied. “It’s the ultimate spell in the Untamed branch, and creates a clone of the caster. Every good spellcaster knows Duplicato.” The uses for it were almost too much. And Morgyn’s in particular tended to last nigh forever. With the spell active, Morgyn could stay outside Magic Realm without shirking Sagely duties, and everyone was happy.

“I don’t know Duplicato,” Caleb pointed out.

“That’s because you’re -” Morgyn paused, but couldn’t think of a better way of phrasing it than had been started. “… Simeon should be this way, at least.”

“Wow,” Caleb said, half laughing. “I don’t know whether to be offended or impressed right now.”

“Yeah,” Morgyn answered, “I get that a lot.”

Caleb went quiet, and then fidgeted.

“I’m not mad at you,” Morgyn said, leaning over a little in attempt to meet his gaze. “Really.”

“At the time it seemed like a logical progression,” Caleb said. “And in hindsight…”

Morgyn smiled a little. “Hey, you know what they say, hindsight is 50/50. Or whatever it is.”

Caleb laughed. “I think it’s 20,” he said.

“Right, yeah, that.” Morgyn was too old to keep up with all these turn of phrases. “I’m kind of flattered, really. Just… not right now, you know?”

Caleb smiled a bit, and nodded. “Yeah, I know.”

“Good,” Morgyn said, kissing Caleb’s cheek. “Now, let’s go find a Sage that looks like me.”

Sarnai appeared at the ground floor in a puff of black smoke. Amiyah looked annoyed.

“We are pleased to see you,” Sarnai said. Actually, she wasn’t terribly pleased, but Amiyah and Keon were the only fish Sarnai knew of, and siren mermaids could do some very fascinating things with their siren powers.

Like put Sims into trances…

“Oh shut up,” Amiyah snarked back. “You’re not pleased to see me and neither am I pleased to see you.”

Well, she was right about that much. “If you’d like to make this discussion harder than it needs to be, we won’t stop you,” Sarnai said, her tone lilting upward in warning, eyes flickering with a soft glow.

“Oh go ahead and threaten me if you want,” Amiyah said, almost snarling. “Your kind don’t scare me.”

“We should,” Sarnai said softly. “But no matter. You’ll learn or you won’t, and which it is matters little to us. The Count wants into the Magic Realm.”

“And what’s that got to do with merfolk?” Amiyah asked. The Count paid handsomely, and Amiyah knew it, so she wasn’t immediately saying no.

“We heard you have experience with the casters,” Sarnai said. “We only need to know if the casters’ barriers hold up against mind powers.”

“They can resist them directly,” Amiyah said, “but not indirectly.”

“And how does _that_ help?” Lakshmi asked from the side by the stairs, snorting.

“Silence, sister,” Sarnai said. “Thank you, fish girl. We will pay you by the end of tonight. You may leave now.”

Amiyah harumphed, but stood up and marched out the door. And Sarnai had an idea… but first, she needed to greet the Count tonight. Vladislaus would be expecting her, and it wouldn’t do to disappoint.

Morgyn wandered back to the bookshelf, putting the book back. Footsteps sounded from one side, and Morgyn turned to find… Morgyn.

“Ah,” Morgyn said, “there you are. I was wondering where you’d gone off to.”

“Helping Miss Emilia,” Morgyn answered.

“You’re not feeling weak are you?” Morgyn asked, sliding the book into place on the shelf and then turning to face the duplication properly.

“No,” the stand-in answered. “I feel okay. My magic recovers from overcharging normally.”

Morgyn took a moment to wave a hand, emitting sparkles and checking the other Morgyn over with magic. Everything seemed in working order, so Morgyn wasn’t going to worry about it too much. “Well, keep up the good work then,” Morgyn said.

“I will,” Morgyn answered. “Simeon’s down there.”

“Oh, thank you.”

As Morgyn turned around, heading down the stairs towards Simeon, the duplicate slowly began to grin, a little too wide to be mere joy. What luck, that the Untamed Sage bought it. Now, no one would ever find out… and soon enough… they’d learn what they needed to learn.

She appeared, as always she did, in a puff of black smoke. As it happened, Count Vladislaus was expecting her indeed, and had met her outside his manor. Sarnai immediately curtsied in respect. “Count, it’s so good to see you,” she said.

“Sarnai,” Vlad greeted in return. He’d already tried to break her of the curtsying habit, but eventually found it more efficient to simply accept it. “My, I’d forgotten how lovely you are. I trust you find your living arrangements pleasing?”

Sarnai made a wry expression for a moment, and then smiled. “We do, yes.”

Vladislaus arched an eyebrow. He wasn’t buying that response.

Sighing, Sarnai’s shoulders sank slightly, her head turning to the side a bit. “Lakshmi is grating our nerves,” Sarnai said. “We remember why we moved away from her the last time.”

“Siblings are often quite trying,” Vladislaus said. “Well, have you been so busy working on your mission that you took three nights to visit?”

Sarnai nodded. “We have,” she said. “The magic barriers around the Realm are more difficult to break than we expected. We should have a solution soon, but for now, we are having noted difficulties.” And many migraines.

“I asked for you specifically,” Vladislaus said, “because I knew I could entrust this task to no one else. You’ll figure it out.”

Sarnai nodded her head, blinking slowly. “The Count places great trust in us,” she said. “We are not certain we will emerge triumphant.”

“Of course you will,” Vlad replied. “If anyone can do it, Sarnai, it’s you.” Admittedly, this was a task of unknown danger, and Vlad had no interest in messing with unknown components personally. Sarnai was just the right combination of crazy and intelligent, she had a much higher chance of surviving the endeavour unscathed, and perhaps even succeeding.

And _someone_ doing something _right_ around here was always a nice breath of fresh air.

“Morgyn!” Simeon greeted, a bit too happily. Of course, Morgyn and Simeon were closer with one another than they each were with L., but she had quite the mean streak. “You _are_ Morgyn, right?”

“Of course, beer gut,” Morgyn answered.

“Ahhh, it’s so nice to see you,” Simeon replied, reaching over and giving Morgyn an awkward hug. Morgyn had a crush on Simeon, but hadn’t ever said anything about it. It was a little awkward, and might violate some unspoken rules about not mixing work and relationships.

Somehow though, Morgyn didn’t think Caleb would really _care_ …

“So, how are things?” Morgyn asked. “Have I missed anything?”

“Nothing important,” Simeon replied. “Well, I think you missed L.’s wedding. Not that it was really anything to be excited about.”

“Sorry,” Morgyn said. “I had to go to my brother’s wedding.”

“Oh?” Simeon asked, perking up a bit. “You found your brother?”

“I did, yes. He might come by sometime.” Probably not. Damian had no interest in Magic Realm, despite being just as old, and just as powerful, as Morgyn was.

Simeon smiled. “It’d be nice to meet the guy I’ve heard so much about.”

The more they talked, the more uneasy Morgyn felt. Something was off, but Morgyn couldn’t readily pinpoint _what_. “Yeah,” Morgyn said, nodding. “I’ll tell him you’d like to meet him. Where’s L.?”

“Ah, probably in the basement as always,” Simeon replied. “She’s been in a weird mood recently, and I’m not sure why.”

Oh. That wouldn’t have anything to do with Don Lothario, would it? Morgyn wondered, but didn’t ask. Likely, Simeon didn’t know, either.

“Of course,” Sarnai answered. “We already have an idea that might get us around our problem.”

Vladislaus smirked and nodded. “Of course you do,” he said. “I knew I could trust no one else. You’re doing very well, as always. Ah, Miss Hell also wanted this assignment.”

Sarnai tilted her head. “Unfortunate she cannot do anything right, then,” she replied.

Vladislaus almost outright laughed. “Yes, very unfortunate,” he agreed. “She may try to do it herself, anyway. You know she’s always done whatever she wants.”

“Yes,” Sarnai replied. “No matter. She will not get in our way.” And she would not succeed before Sarnai had, either. Sarnai was already partway in, and what was Miss Hell?

Jealous, that’s what Miss Hell was.

“Oh, no way!” Morgyn exclaimed.

Simeon laughed. “Yes way,” he said. “I told them it was a bad idea, they did it anyway.”

The two were so wrapped up in being amused over their discussion, they missed L. coming up the stairs from the basement, until her voice came from right behind Morgyn.

“You’re wasting time,” she said.

Morgyn turned, watching her. She sounded strange, but Morgyn couldn’t put a finger on it. “Wasting time?” Morgyn asked. “Time with friends is never wasted.”

“The clock is against you, now,” L. said. “You’re wasting time, because you have little of it left. There it goes, slipping through your fingers like sand, and you don’t even know it.”

Simeon frowned, and Morgyn’s gaze narrowed. She still sounded off, and it was going to bother Morgyn until it made sense. “L., what are you talking about?”

For a long moment, L. just stared at Morgyn, and didn’t answer. And then, strangely, she grinned, almost too widely. “You’ll see, if you keep wasting so much time,” L. replied, and then with that grin still on her face, she wandered off.

“What was that?” Morgyn asked, turning to Simeon.

“I told you,” Simeon answered, “she’s been a little weird these days.”

That went a bit beyond a ‘little’ weird, Morgyn thought. “I should go, I’ll see you later,” Morgyn said, and then shot off across the Realm to get Caleb. Morgyn couldn’t say why, but something, maybe instinct, said ‘go home, now.’

It seemed like Damian was always playing with Esme. Cassandra didn’t mind it, because it was nice to watch them. At the moment, she was in front of the cauldron upstairs, experimenting with different potion ingredients to see if she could stumble into a potion recipe. She could just ask her mother, but that was too easy.

Esmeralda had come up from her room, and watched for a while, before Damian came upstairs and started playing with her. Cassandra didn’t think she needed to be playing this late at night, but they were just so precious she let it alone.

Eventually, Damian set Esme down, and the girl toddled off to go to bed. Fortunately, it’d seem there wouldn’t be a problem there.

“Oof,” Damian said, shifting his shoulders. “She’s getting heavy.”

“Yeah, I bet she is,” Cassandra answered. “Someday, she won’t be that little anymore.”

“Tossing her around will be harder, I’m sure,” Damian said. “I’m just enjoying it while I can, you know?”

“Just don’t dislocate anything, okay?” Cassandra said.

“Yeah, I won’t,” he replied. “You figure anything out?” Damian nodded at the cauldron.

“No,” Cassandra said, sighing. “My mother’s side of the family’s been master alchemists for generations upon generations, and my father’s side of the family are all Untamed masters. And I can’t even figure out how to make a nausea potion, but at least I’ve got the spellcasting si -“

“Why are you still _talking_ , shut _up_!” Damian suddenly snarled.

Cassandra was not expecting that in the least, and it stunned her into silence. She went to say something, and then changed her mind, simply staring at Damian.

And for a moment, Damian looked confused. And then his eyebrows furrowed, and one hand rose to his temple. “Cass – sorry, I’m sorry, I don’t…” He shook his head, squeezing his eyes closed for a moment. “I’m sorry. I have a headache, I think I’ll just go to bed.”

“Okay,” Cassandra said, her eyebrows still furrowed together. She watched him go, her mind whirling with thoughts. Damian was _never_ that harsh before, not with her, or… _anyone_ in all the time she’d known him. What had just happened…?

“You’re still trying?” Lakshmi asked.

“Of course,” Sarnai replied, arranging her notes on the table. She was getting closer to achieving her goals, she was sure of it. She just needed a _little_ bit more time, but the casters weren’t expecting _this_ , and it was making her job a little bit easier.

“Why?” Lakshmi asked.

“Because he wants us to,” Sarnai answered, arching one eyebrow. “Because the Count asked us.” It really was that simple, and why Lakshmi wasn’t understanding, that Sarnai didn’t know.

“And why do you answer to him, anyway?” Lakshmi went on. “You are stronger than him, Sarnai, you don’t _need_ him.” Lakshmi simply didn’t like Vladislaus Straud. Thought he had too much ego, and believed his relationship with her sister was inherently imbalanced and one-sided. Sarnai adored him, and as much as that Miss Hell or whatever her name was thought otherwise, Lakshmi didn’t think it was mutual.

“We do not need you either,” Sarnai said, her tone low, “and yet we keep you.”

Lakshmi frowned. Fine. She was used to Sarnai threatening her; that was the only way Sarnai knew how to communicate, sometimes. Side effect of becoming a vampire so young, Lakshmi assumed.

“Fine,” Lakshmi said. She wouldn’t bring it up again then. Still, though, she worried. Maybe she was right to.


	9. Chapter 9

That was the strangest conversation Morgyn had ever had with L. and Simeon. Morgyn knew the two of them well enough to know when something was wrong, and _something_ was wrong with L., though what, Morgyn still couldn’t say. And something felt terribly off in Magic Realm, almost like the Realm itself was crying out in pain.

It was unnerving an experience, and not one Morgyn was terribly interested in repeating anytime soon. It was harder to sense it outside of the Realm, but that thread of Morgyn that was a Sage still clung to it, and could still feel it. Now that Morgyn had sensed it up close and personal once, apparently, picking it out again later wasn’t going to be difficult.

But what _was_ it… and what was so wrong here that Morgyn had felt the sudden need to rush home?

“Everything seems okay,” Caleb murmured. “I’m going to bed.”

“Okay,” Morgyn answered softly, as Caleb shuffled down the stairs. Morgyn frowned. It seemed like most of everyone else was already in bed. As soon as the thought came to mind, Damian shuffled out of the kitchen.

“Oh,” Damian said. “Welcome home, or whatever.”

… or… _whatever_? Morgyn was just shaken up from whatever the heck was wrong with L., no need to get paranoid now. “Thank you,” Morgyn answered. “Have you noticed anything… off?”

Damian arched an eyebrow. “Um, no,” Damian answered. “Like what though?”

“ _Something_ ,” Morgyn answered, glancing around their apartment. There was no sense in telling Damian about it feeling like the Magic Realm was screaming in pain, because it wasn’t like Damian would sense that. He wasn’t a Sage. For a moment, though, Morgyn considered the possibility that it was the Magic Realm itself, and whatever was wrong with it, that was throwing L. off kilter. Morgyn would’ve only escaped it because Morgyn was never in Magic Realm anymore.

Well that didn’t make sense, because presumably, L. had actually been exposed to it less than Simeon, and Simeon had seemed fine.

“Well, it’s probably nothing,” Damian said. “No sense making trouble where there isn’t any.”

“I know,” Morgyn replied, “but it feels important so -“

“I _said_ **drop it**!” Damian snarled.

Morgyn blinked once. Damian’s expression eventually levelled out, and he looked confused.

“I have a headache,” he said. “I’m going to bed.”

Morgyn didn’t say anything, just watched him go. And _what_ exactly was _that_?

So now Damian was acting weird, if that episode was anything to go by. Morgyn had known Damian all his life, there wasn’t a vicious bone in his body, and while most Sims got angry on occasion, Damian skipped anger and went straight to sadness. He’d rather run from you and hide than snap.

That was why it was so damaging when Damian fought others over Morgyn. _For_ Morgyn? It was hard to say which. Confrontation was the furthest thing from normal for Damian. If both L. and Damian were acting weird at once, what could one suppose was the meaning of that…?

Morgyn didn’t have any bright ideas, but did get the feeling sleep was going to be a difficult endeavour tonight.

“Good morning, love,” Cassandra greeted softly. She wasn’t sure how that would go, given the snapping last night, but maybe he really had just had a headache. Headaches would make anyone rather irritable, even her. Maybe even him, then.

A look of annoyance flashed in Damian’s grey eyes, for just a moment, before disappearing. “Good morning,” he answered, sitting down.

“Did you sleep okay? How’s your head?” Cassandra asked.

Damian tried not to roll his eyes. This general pleasant conversation thing, he really wasn’t in the mood for it right this second. “Fine,” he said, “and fine.” He did not ask her how she slept, because frankly, he didn’t care.

Cassandra waited a moment, and then hesitantly said, “There was a lot of snowfall last night.”

“I noticed,” Damian replied icily.

Cassandra almost flinched back, but she willed herself not to. This was still Damian, wasn’t it? She wasn’t afraid of him. “Damian,” she started, reaching over and resting her hand on his. “Baby, what’s wrong?”

“I’m getting just a little sick of you and your nosiness,” Damian snapped.

Once again, Cassandra had to will herself not to instantly back off. “I – I’m just worried -“

“Oh yeah right,” Damian went on. “Like you’ve ever really cared, huh, you sure spent a lot of time caring back before we even got together. Spent a lot of time taking the hint that I didn’t want to talk to you, didn’t you? But of course, because you’re so damn _great_ at _shutting up_!”

Cassandra’s eyebrows drew together. She could feel the ugly sting of tears behind her eyes, and she willed herself not to start, not now, not while he was still here.

Damian loosed a disgusted sound, stood up, and walked away. And for the first time in a long time, Cassandra felt fear. The fear that she was going to lose him, and not even know why.

It was so sudden.

Cassandra had no idea how to deal with it at all. Damian stalked off, and she stood up, walking over to the windows. Below, she could see the fitness centre, and the small bit of shopping area that was right outside their apartment building. Though she was looking at it, she didn’t see it, not really.

What was she supposed to think? Was what he said what he meant? _Surely_ he didn’t mean that, if he did wouldn’t he have… _he_ was the one that proposed! And… kissed her the first time and – nothing made sense. None of this made _sense_ and more than she wanted it to make sense, she wanted it to stop _hurting_.

Cassandra had never wondered, before, if she really loved him, but if she ever had, she knew now. Yes, she loved him, more than she’d ever loved herself, and maybe more than she could ever love anyone else. Damian wasn’t perfect. He wasn’t a perfect man, but she didn’t want him to be, because he was _hers_.

It was like a dam broke. A squeak, and the tears flowed suddenly and freely, and Cassandra tapped her head against the glass. After a moment, she heard something behind her, a thunk of some kind and then shuffling. She turned, but there wasn’t anything there.

Maybe she was hearing things, now.

Fortunately for him, Damian hadn’t been there right at that moment, when Caleb heard Cassandra crying in the living room, because if he _had_ been, Caleb might’ve rearranged his face right then and there, Morgyn’s brother or not. As it was, _he’d_ needed to go to class, too, and that was unfortunate, because Caleb was _pissed_.

By the time Caleb returned home, Damian was at the dining room table doing homework. Caleb settled down across from him.

“Oh, hi Caleb,” Damian said. He sounded just fine, but Caleb _heard_ what he’d said that morning to Cassandra.

One great thing about being an ex-vampire, you apparently still had decent hearing after.

“Hi,” Caleb replied dryly.

“Homework, right?” Damian said, laughing slightly.

Caleb looked at him like he couldn’t believe his nerve. Because he couldn’t. “Look,” he said, setting his pencil down. “I’ll just come right out and say it. If you ever make Cassandra cry again, I’ll snap your neck. I told you when you first started dating her I would. I meant it.”

Damian looked amused, strangely, and Caleb caught a slight tinge of something that he’d sensed before, but wasn’t sure offhand what it was because it was so weak. “Morgyn wouldn’t be too pleased.”

“Morgyn will get over it,” Caleb answered. “And I was friends with Cassandra before I was dating Morgyn. Guess which one comes first?” Something told Caleb Morgyn would be about as pissed off as he was. Morgyn liked Cassandra, too, and Damian was being a jerk.

“If you say so,” Damian answered with a sigh, and then picked up his notebook and left. Caleb let him go, only because the oddly flippant demeanour was only making his anger worse.

This time, Cassandra didn’t say hello to him first. Damian came down the stairs, and headed to the dining room, coming to stand beside her chair.

“Cassandra,” Damian said.

Cassandra glanced at him. “Yes?” she asked. The last few times she’d tried holding a conversation with him, he’d gone off like a bottle rocket, and she wasn’t interested.

“I had a talk with Caleb earlier,” he said. “Tell him everything’s fine.”

Cassandra frowned. That must’ve been what she’d heard the last morning Damian had snapped at her. She tried not to think about it too much, but apparently it’d been heard. Great. Now Lilith and Morgyn were probably aware of what was going on, too, and Cassandra would much rather pretend nothing was wrong.

“It’s not, though,” Cassandra said. “And Caleb knows me well enough to know when I lie.” It was the truth. Besides, Caleb was a few hundred years old, and had long figured out what lies looked like.

“Well, then tell him to butt out and mind his own business,” Damian said, “before he gets himself hurt.”

… was Damian _threatening_ Caleb? Cassandra couldn’t believe what she was hearing. And her staring at him clearly took long enough he’d decided that was good enough, because a moment later, he walked off.

She wanted to rush after him, shake him and make him go back to being the Damian she knew and loved. More and more, though, she feared that Damian was gone.

Ah, that was incorrect, and this bit of information was better used over here… Morgyn erased part of the presentation, and wrote something else in. It was going decently well so far. The front door opened, and Morgyn glanced at it. Damian had come home, and he looked oddly surly.

Well, according to Caleb, he was in a very bad mood anymore, and had apparently been yelling at Cassandra. It was one thing for Damian to be snapping at Morgyn. It was another for Damian to be yelling at his wife. Morgyn was under no illusions that Damian _wasn’t_ angry at least a little for what happened in France. It made sense, when irritated, Damian _might_ be a little snappier with Morgyn than usual.

But Cassandra? Damian _loved_ her. Or at least, Morgyn had thought so.

“Welcome back,” Morgyn said softly.

Damian didn’t answer, just stared at Morgyn with this unreadable expression on his face, and it gave Morgyn goosebumps, and then set off the defensive instinct. That was odd.

“We should talk, if you’ve got a minute,” Morgyn said.

Damian snorted, glancing at the opposite wall. “Not you, too. I figured I’d have threatened your idiot boyfriend enough to get him to shut up, but I guess you’re a bit more difficult to threaten into complacency.”

Threatened – Morgyn’s gaze narrowed. “Caleb’s not exactly one to back down easily, either.” A few hundred years as a vampire generally meant you at least had a spine to speak of. “What are you doing?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Damian asked, and then smiled, a bit too widely. “I did tell you, you’re wasting time, didn’t I?”

That caught Morgyn off-guard, and Damian left, and Morgyn let him go. Wasting time again… and this time, from someone else. So who was doing _what_ , exactly…?

Maybe it was time to pay a visit to some friends.

First off, there were the Birches. If Morgyn remembered correctly, they were expecting a baby, so perhaps now wasn’t a good time, but Morgyn had solved a couple different mysteries with Devante and Cheyanne’s help. Then, there were Grace and Tomax. They were decent help.

Morgyn wasn’t doing anything without Simeon, especially since L. seemed to be affected. They needed to figure out how to protect Simeon from the same thing, and quickly. The Goths could also potentially be useful allies, and would want to help because Cassandra and Damian were heavily affected.

Morgyn had plans. Everything was fine. Damian was losing his mind and L. probably was, too, but it was fine. Now wasn’t the time to be having a panic attack, though admittedly, the more time went on, the harder Morgyn had to fight one off.

Who to call first… Morgyn started tapping at the phone, and then it chimed. That was odd. Morgyn slid the notifications panel down, and tapped the new text message.

It was from Simeon.

_L. is lost. Stay out of Magic Realm. You’re the only hope left._

What? A quick head shake, a re-read, and then Morgyn hurriedly replied.

_What do you mean? What happened to L.?_

No answer came. Five minutes. Eight minutes.

_Simeon, don’t leave me hanging like this, what happened?_

Still no answer. Eleven minutes, fifteen.

_Simeon!_

Nineteen, twenty four, thirty two.

“Damn it.” And then there was one.

Maybe this was bigger than Morgyn originally thought.

“Oooh, we love chess,” Sarnai said, sitting down at the chess table across from Lakshmi. Her sister seemed slightly perturbed, but didn’t say anything against her presence. Lakshmi had almost forgotten how demanding and _bossy_ Sarnai was, but it was just as well.

“Do you want to play a round?” Lakshmi asked.

“Not yet,” Sarnai said. “First, we talk business. It is time. We have a job for you.”

Lakshmi looked up at Sarnai. Her sister was smiling that soft smile she usually wore when she was in an exceptionally good mood. “Are you getting further with your plans?”

“Yes,” Sarnai replied. “Everything is falling into place now. We only have one more issue to deal with. That is where you come in.”

For a moment, Lakshmi was quiet, and then she said, “I thought you didn’t need me.”

Sarnai tilted her head. “We were annoyed.”

Of course. That does explain it. Sarnai was often annoyed, but then when one had Vladislaus Straud counting on your success and the day to day activity of humans doing that _living_ thing distracting you, Lakshmi supposed one _would_ be annoyed.

“Okay,” Lakshmi said. “What do I need to do?”

If nothing else, her sister needed her help, and Lakshmi was never going to say no to Sarnai.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By the way, the thunk was Caleb punching the wall. c:


	10. Chapter 10

He couldn’t keep this up. The more time went on, the more Damian was sure of it. It was so hard to tell what was him, and what wasn’t. He didn’t trust his own thoughts and instincts. He didn’t know what to do, because if this… whatever she was in his head was strong enough to mess _him_ up, and she wasn’t even _here_ , then what could she do to the rest of his family?

Damian didn’t want to find out the hard way. It broke his heart to see the hurt in Cassandra’s eyes when she looked at him now. But he didn’t know what else to do. It was hard enough to fight off the _whatever she was_. Mostly it left him tired and irritable, and apparently prone to snapping. Damian tried not to think anything she might find useful, but he didn’t know what she was after, either.

Maybe Morgyn had a good solution – no. Damian had spent his entire life protecting Morgyn, it wasn’t going to turn into Morgyn having to protect _him_ suddenly. That wasn’t how this was supposed to go, and it’d been Damian protecting Morgyn for so long, he didn’t know how else to function.

There was the distant, vague idea of leaving, but _someone_ would follow, no doubt, and Damian wasn’t sure if that was _his_ idea or _hers_. That was hard to say. Damian wasn’t anyone special, why would someone go after him, anyway? Well, unless the one they were after _wasn’t_ Damian, but was Cassandra or Morgyn. Cassandra was the current eldest child of the Goth family and the one that stood to inherit the Goth fortune someday. And Morgyn was one of the most powerful spellcasters in spellcaster history.

Except, both Cassandra and Morgyn had a weakness, and it happened they had the same one.

_You must stop **fighting us**_ , the feminine voice hissed in his head. Damian visibly winced, raising a hand to his head, as whoever that was exerted stronger control over him. Though he was fighting her, he was steadily losing it anyway. She was winning, and he knew it. She took over for longer now than she had at first. It was, maybe, only a matter of time until he was a danger to them. Because Caleb might’ve threatened to snap his neck, but Damian didn’t really believe he could do it, because Caleb might pretend otherwise, but he loved him, too.

As always it did, their struggle lasted only a short moment. One second Damian was cringing in pain, and the next, he stood up straight, and turned to the side. No one else was here.

Good. Sarnai just needed to keep breaking this one down, and she’d have her worm in the Goth residence, just like she got her worms in the Magic Realm. All was going according to plan. Now she just had to execute the next part, and with any luck, she’d be able to practically hand the Magic Realm’s keys to Vladislaus.

Of course, this would inevitably start a vampire-spellcaster war. Sarnai looked forward to it.

The anger hadn’t gone away.

None of them had said anything about the weird way Damian was acting that morning, simply all sat down at the table for breakfast, minus Cassandra and Damian, and then sat in silence until Damian once again snapped at Cassandra. And that time, they got into an honest to Watcher argument, loud enough everyone downstairs heard every word.

All three of them silently exchanged glances across the table. Lilith got up and went downstairs. Morgyn got up and teleported somewhere. And Caleb went to the balcony to beat the stuffing out of something that was _unfortunately_ not Damian’s face.

And that _… whatever it was_ Caleb was sensing. It was difficult to say what it was, because Caleb wasn’t a vampire anymore. His senses weren’t the same, but there was a slight tingle of an energy he’d been around before. That energy made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, and it was very annoying not to be able to pinpoint what it was.

Caleb heard a door slam. He stopped, glancing at the window that looked into the entry. Damian marched out of the apartment and into the elevator, also slamming the front door on the way out. A head tilt, and Caleb noticed Cassandra by the stairs. She looked upset, but he didn’t expect anything else, and then she went upstairs.

_What are you doing, Damian?_

“You’ve been out here all day,” Lilith said, sitting down on one of the couches on the balcony. Caleb looked annoyed, still, but he sat down too.

“Yeah,” he said. “It was a better idea than beating the stuffing out of Damian.”

They both went quiet, listening to the gentle, cool breeze outside. It was winter now, and it’d been snowing here and there, but Caleb wasn’t too bothered by the chill. Apparently, neither was Lilith.

“It’s always about something stupid,” Lilith said.

“Yeah, it is,” Caleb agreed. “Cassandra hardly talks that much, and now that Damian keeps snapping at her for talking, she’s doing it less and less.”

Lilith nodded. “Yeah. … do you sense it too?” she asked.

“That thing that I’m pretty sure I’ve sensed before but can’t pin down?” Caleb asked. “Nah, wouldn’t know what you mean.”

Lilith gave him a put-upon look. “I think there’s something _magically_ wrong with him, Caleb.”

“How convenient,” Caleb answered wryly.

“I wouldn’t call this convenient,” Lilith said.

“I’m just saying I’m getting a little tired of listening to him basically abuse my best friend and I’m not feeling terribly giddy at the idea of an excuse for her to keep putting up with it.”

Lilith sighed, tilting her head. “I know,” she said. “But you know how much he means to her. And if this was Morgyn, you’d be doing the same dang thing.”

Despite the infuriated look Caleb gave her, Lilith was unperturbed, and Caleb knew she was right. Eventually, he loosed a huff, and looked toward the windows. “Fine,” he said. “What now?”

“We need to figure out who it is,” Lilith said, “and whether we’re dealing with a spellcaster or a vampire.”

Right, yeah. Vampires _were_ capable of pulling something like this off. But Caleb had to wonder _why_. Vampires and spellcasters generally kept to themselves, and didn’t cross one another’s paths very often. Even when they did, vampires respected spellcasters were dangerous, and vice versa, and everyone went on their way.

Well, Caleb still had vampiric friends. He could ask one or two. When he wasn’t still so angry, maybe he would. It was not always a good idea to show up unannounced on a vampire’s doorstep ticked as all heck.

Unfortunately, Cassandra had been in such a bad mood recently, she’d not been coming down to make breakfast and the like. Caleb decided to try his hand at it, and so far he hadn’t managed to blow anything up. That was a nice start.

He was still angry, and maybe he would be for a while, except now what he was angry with had shifted. Whatever was messing with Damian was messing with a sacred union. Cassandra and Damian were _meant_ to be together, Caleb believed that, they completed one another in ways Caleb hadn’t seen very often in the last few hundred years of living.

He shook his head to himself. He heard a slight tap sound behind him. “Nice curves back there,” came Morgyn’s voice.

Caleb laughed slightly. “I mean, it’s taken about three hundred years to get them like that, you’re dang right nice curves back there.”

Morgyn didn’t bother resisting the eye roll, leaned over around Caleb to kiss his cheek, and then moved back.

“Are you okay?” Caleb asked quietly.

Morgyn’s green gaze fell to the floor. “No,” was the quiet answer. “Simeon stopped answering me. I called this morning, but it went straight to voicemail. And Damian’s losing his mind.”

“I was talking to Lilith yesterday,” Caleb said, “and we both sense the same thing.”

“What is it?” Morgyn asked.

“Neither of us has any idea right now, sorry. We’re going to try and figure it out though. Hey, I know this is hard, but as long as Damian is here, he’s not Watcher only knows where, and we can figure this out. …. even if we do have to lock him in his room and hope he doesn’t remember he can teleport back out.”

Morgyn smiled slightly, but then looked a little upset. Caleb almost regretted making the joke, because it was looking more and more like a potential reality, and nobody wanted to do that to their sibling.

“What is this…”

She wasn’t aware anyone in this house had a child. For the most part, Sarnai had been too busy fighting through Damian’s mental walls. He was a tougher spellcaster than she gave him credit for, for sure, but all things broke with enough force applied to them after all. And now she could see things better.

She tried to come up with a name, but Damian was blocking it out. No matter. The child would tell her what its name was, eventually.

 _Stay away from her_.

_We’d love to see you try and stop us._

_LEAVE MY DAUGHTER ALONE!_

The force of the mental snarl was so strong, it physically knocked the wind out of Sarnai, and threw her out of his head instantly.

“Please stop, stop it, go away…”

It was getting harder to fight her off, and Damian could feel his sense of self slipping away. It was terrifying in a way that nothing had ever been before, a kind of fear that was indescribable. He thought he’d heard Cassandra talking to him a moment ago, but whatever she said was drowned out by whatever he was saying. At this point, he didn’t even _know_ what words were coming out of his mouth.

It didn’t matter. He had to focus all of his energy on fighting her off. She’d gotten so close to his daughter. She was trying to get back into his head, but he was fighting her. It was enough. This was enough, he couldn’t let her win again, it was hurting Cassandra, it was threatening Esmeralda, she was probably after Morgyn…

“They’re mine,” he muttered. “Mine, you can’t have them, my reasons to live, mine…”

Footsteps sounded. Damian didn’t flinch, but then hands reached for him.

“DON’T!” he shrieked, shoving himself against the wall. “Don’t, she’s here, she’s still here, don’t touch me.” His breathing was rapid and frantic, and the blond withdrew, kneeling down instead. Morgyn, of course.

“Who’s she?” Morgyn asked.

“I don’t- I don’t know,” Damian answered, panting and wincing in pain. “I wouldn’t tell you even if I did. Stay away from me, don’t touch me, you stay over there, not you, I _hate_ you, get away from me!” There was a short pause, and then Damian started crying. “No, wait, I didn’t mean it, I’m sorry, Morgyn I’m sorry, please, please don’t leave me, don’t leave me alone again, I don’t want to be alone again, please.”

“Shhh, shh,” Morgyn said, scooting across the floor and taking Damian’s hands. “No, Damian no, listen to me, I’m never going to leave you again, I promise. I’m not going anywhere. Everything’ll be okay. I need you to tell me who she is.”

“I don’t know, honest, I don’t know, I’m sorry, I’m sorry I’m so useless, I’m sorry, she’s after you, she wants to take you away from me again, don’t go, please don’t go, please stay.”

It hurt. Morgyn spluttered slightly, but shoved it back down at the last second. Now wasn’t the time to get emotional, _one_ of them should be stable. “I won’t,” Morgyn said, pulling Damian over and holding him. “It’s okay. I won’t go.”

“I’ll _kill her_ ,” Damian snarled, and sparks alighted at his hands.

“No!” Morgyn started, reaching down and suppressing Damian’s magic. “Damian no, don’t use your magic, not right now, you can’t control it! We’ll figure it out, I promise, but I need you to calm down for me.”

“I can’t, I can’t, it hurts, Morgyn it hurts so much, I can’t breathe, please, help me, please make it stop, I can’t…” It was almost endless, and it hurt to listen to, as Damian fell into Morgyn’s lap and cried.

What was there to even _do_? He said ‘she’ was here, what did that – no, Morgyn knew what that meant, mind manipulation no doubt. There were spells that did it, though that was forbidden magic. Not that it being forbidden magic really stopped anyone from _doing it_. Maybe that was what the Realm was screaming about. The Vortex was formed because of forbidden magic. It’d be forbidden magic that hurt it and the crystal core that sustained it.

Not now. Right now, Damian needed Morgyn, and for once, Morgyn was here. It felt like Damian was always saving Morgyn from _something_ , giving up _something_ for Morgyn. Very gently, Morgyn rested one hand on Damian’s hair, sparks and tendrils of magical light swirling around the raven strands. There were wards, but, Morgyn knew it wasn’t a permanent solution. The spells wouldn’t last forever, but they’d give Damian a little rest.

Damian squeaked in pain, but then heaved a sigh, almost immediately relaxing. His breathing slowed, evened back out. Gently, Morgyn pet his hair. Damian had been through too much, why was he living through _this_ , too?

“Is that better?” Morgyn asked, very quietly.

“Yeah…” Damian answered, just as quiet. “I have a migraine.”

“I bet you do. I’ll make te -“

“No,” Damian squeaked, almost panicking again. “Please don’t go.”

“Okay,” Morgyn answered, immediately. “I’ll stay.”

For once, Morgyn wasn’t running away, not this time.


	11. Chapter 11

This was going to get messy.

One thing was for sure, Lilith had to pick up the slack here. She was the only one that wasn’t a spellcaster. She would be the weaker one of them, but at least they were kind enough not to say anything. What else might be helpful would be brushing up on her vampire lore. Lilith had the feeling it was a vampire messing with Damian’s head. Damian himself didn’t seem to have any idea, but if both Lilith and Caleb had the feeling they’d sensed whatever this was before, it was likely to be vampiric in nature.

For the last couple days, Morgyn had been keeping mental wards on Damian, to prevent him from having to fight the mental intruder off again before his energy had recovered. In the meantime, Morgyn was contacting friends, as was Caleb, and they were trying to figure out who this was. This wouldn’t end until they figured out _who_ and stopped them.

“Lilith, it’s almost midnight,” Caleb’s voice came from the doorway.

Lilith growled. “I know!”

Caleb sighed. “You should take a shower and head to sleep.”

Ugh. He was right, of course. Lilith huffed.

“Yeah, I know,” Caleb said. “This is frustrating. We just gotta keep doing what we always do.”

“You know there’s the possibility that, now that whoever it is can’t control Damian anymore, they’ll turn on one of us.”

Caleb breathed in, releasing the breath slowly. “I know. Morgyn knows. I’m sure Cassandra does too. Morgyn’s put up as many wards as possible.”

“And we just hope it’s enough, huh?”

“Yeah.”

Lilith looked down at the floor. “I’m not good at this waiting stuff.”

Caleb snorted. “Neither am I.” He paused a moment, and then said, “next time we have the chance, wanna go vampire hunting with me?”

Lilith smirked. “Yeah, I do.”

He hadn’t been expecting her to sit across from him. Cassandra had been avoiding most of them, because she didn’t want to answer questions, and would rather pretend nothing was going wrong. Caleb glanced up at her through his eyelashes, presently working on his homework. At a good place, he stopped, setting his pencil down.

“How are you?” he asked.

Cassandra momentarily looked annoyed, but loosed a breath. “Fine.”

“I can tell when you’re lying,” Caleb said.

“What’s it matter?” she asked. “It is what it is.” There wasn’t any point in stewing over it or talking about it, because it wouldn’t change anything, and really, it wouldn’t even make her feel better. She’d ended up moving to one of the spare bedrooms for now. Damian didn’t seem to have noticed, but then he didn’t seem to come out for anything anymore.

Caleb sighed, gaze narrowing in thought. “He’s… not exactly _himself_ , Cass.”

“I figured that out, thanks,” Cassandra answered dryly.

“No, I mean… we think there’s a spellcaster or a vampire messing with his head.”

Cassandra levelled him with a stare, and then arched an eyebrow. Caleb was internally a little amused at how much she looked like her mother. “Are you sure?”

Caleb smiled softly. “You’d know him better than I do,” he said. “Is he really doing anything Damian would do anymore?”

Cassandra turned away, toward the floor beside her, watching the sunlight dance across the wood through the blinds. “So he doesn’t just suddenly hate me?” she asked, her voice tiny and soft.

Caleb almost got angry again, but it wouldn’t serve him here any. “No, he doesn’t. Honestly, I don’t know if he ever could.” That was for Damian to know and Caleb to stay out of.

“Okay,” Cassandra said, quietly. “We can fix this…”

“Yes,” Caleb answered. “Lilith, Morgyn and I, we’re looking into how to fix this. You may want to talk to your parents, maybe they have some ideas we don’t.”

Cassandra nodded. Yeah, her parents might have answers where they only had questions. It was worth a try.

“You should go see him.”

Cassandra looked down at the table. “I will.”

“How is he?” Cassandra asked.

Morgyn softly closed the door, coming to stand in the hallway properly. “Still has a migraine,” Morgyn said quietly. “I think he’ll have one of those for a while. He’s still himself, though. And he’s asked about you a few times.”

Cassandra nodded, eyeing the wood grain on the door.

“I know it’ll be hard,” Morgyn said. “He’s said some things that hurt, and I know that, and I wouldn’t ever presume to tell you what to do. But I don’t know if he’ll find the strength to get through this without you, either.” Morgyn reached over, brushing some of her hair out of her face, smiled slightly, and then turned to go.

“Morgyn?” Cassandra said.

Morgyn stopped a few steps away. “Yeah?”

“I’m glad you’re here.” Asking Morgyn to move in turned out to be a good idea, for more reasons than just it was good to reconnect with Damian.

Morgyn didn’t say anything, just smiled and then headed for the stairs again.

Cassandra released a breath she hadn’t been aware she was holding, eyeing the door. Of course, it was just Damian. What _did_ she feel, anyway? Maybe that was something she’d have to figure out. Maybe it didn’t matter.

She took another breath in, and opened the door, quietly closed it behind her. If she didn’t know any better, she’d think he was just fine for how peaceful he looked. She could see the pain in the lines of his body, though.

Quiet, she shuffled over, gently brushed his shoulder.

He started, slightly, but then looked up at her, and calmed back down. “Hi,” he greeted softly.

“Hey,” Cassandra answered, almost whispering. “How are you feeling?”

Damian rolled over slightly, and gave her a thumbs up.

Cassandra laughed a bit. “That’s a start.”

“Yeah,” Damian answered. “Morgyn’s babying me. Not used to this.”

Cassandra looked amused. “You’ll get used to it eventually.”

“Probably about when it’s over,” Damian said.

Damian went quiet, and Cassandra did too. Caleb and Morgyn were right. He was back to being himself, and she was glad for that, but also angry at the same time. Damian couldn’t bring himself to hurt a fly, and it was angering that someone would do this to him.

Maybe someone that was after Morgyn, and didn’t know what a tootsie pop Damian was.

“I’m sorry, Cassie,” Damian said.

For a moment, Cassandra was confused, and then she shook her head. “Don’t worry about that,” she said, leaning over to kiss his forehead. “You just focus on getting your strength back.”

“I hurt you,” he whispered.

“Rest, Damian,” she said. “We can talk about that later. For now, you need to rest.” In her heart, even as he said the things he’d said, she’d forgiven him. And maybe that was stupid of her, but there was very little Damian could do to make her truly turn on him.

In hindsight, now that she’d seen it, the tension in his muscles, the fear in his eyes, it was there all along. Maybe that was why she’d always held out hope that things would go back to how they were, because her heart didn’t believe they’d ever really changed. And no matter how loudly they’d fought, he’d never struck her. There were a few times it looked like he might, and he seemed to have forced himself not to.

Maybe that was him fighting whatever was in his head. He was fighting it the whole way, and that was good enough for her.

“Are you staying?” Damian asked.

Cassandra was quiet for a moment, and then nodded. “Yeah,” she said. “I’ll stay.”

Caleb was already asleep, or he seemed to be. Morgyn had actually been upstairs, trying to sleep, but so many nights had been spent with Damian that being alone was harder to deal with than Morgyn had expected. The panic started creeping in, and Morgyn had immediately gotten up and gone down to the lower floor. And then wondered what had caused the thought to come to mind, but Morgyn was already down there, may as well.

So instead, here the Sage was, crawling into Caleb’s bed instead. As soon as Morgyn got settled in, a glance at Caleb showed he was awake.

“… oh.” That apparently wasn’t as quiet as Morgyn had been trying to be. “I can go -“

“It’s fine,” Caleb immediately said. “I just wasn’t expecting it, that’s all. Cassandra’s back with Damian now, huh?”

Morgyn nodded. “Yeah. I think we could probably all fit in the same bed, but it feels like intruding.”

“And you didn’t go to your room…” Caleb said, sounding like he was asking a question.

“… I did.” Morgyn shrugged. “I didn’t want to be alone. And, I guess I don’t really need my own room… unless… you don’t want me -“

“No,” Caleb said. “You’re welcome whenever you – I mean I wasn’t going to _ask_ because of that one time I – and that was bad enough so if you’re not ready yet that’s -“

Caleb went quiet, as Morgyn’s lips met his.

“… right. Shut up Caleb.”

Morgyn snorted. “After so long with Damian as a twin, I got used to how anxiety works. That method doesn’t work on him, but apparently it’s very effective on you.”

“I uh… I’m a cuddler.”

Morgyn smiled, and scooted over closer to Caleb, resting against him. “Good.”

Caleb loosed a quiet squeak, and whispered, “Best, night, _ever_.”

“You’re going to get me _soaked_ …” Cassandra said, laughing at Esmeralda. She wasn’t a big fan of taking a bath, but also didn’t hate baths, at least.

“Waterrrr!” Esme giggled. “Mama, bubbles bzz bzzz!”

“Yes, bubbles,” Cassandra said, smiling for the first time in probably a week or two. It was funny how just spending some time with Esme helped lift her spirits a bit. She wondered if her own mother had ever felt like that with her and Alexander. Nothing was going right, her heart was still so heavy, but she had Esmeralda, and maybe that was good enough.

They’d figure this out. Cassandra wasn’t willing to give up on their family, not now, not over this. It’d only just begun, and the fight wasn’t over. It’d be a fight, she knew that. Cassandra wasn’t under any illusions otherwise, though she did wish whoever it was would pick on somebody that could handle the hurt.

It’d be okay. Somehow, some way. She had to believe that.

The birds started chirping. Cassandra was partially annoyed by it, because she wasn’t ready to wake up and face the world just yet. It smelled like Damian in their room, and she’d never loved a scent more than she loved his. She’d never told him that. It seemed like extraneous information.

Somewhere amid waking up, she felt Damian shift beside her, turning around to face her, and then brush some of her hair behind her ear. One eye opened to look at him, then closed again.

“Good morning,” she whispered.

“Good morning, beautiful,” Damian answered.

Yes, that was her Damian alright. She was back to having to fight off blushes occasionally. “Did you sleep okay?” she asked.

“Mostly,” Damian said. “I had a nightmare again, but I guess I didn’t start screaming.”

“No,” Cassandra answered, reaching over and caressing his cheek. “I’m sorry.”

Damian shook his head slightly, somewhat difficult as his hand was holding it up. “She… ruffled through a lot of my memories, memories I’d shoved into a dusty corner a long time ago, looking for something. I don’t know if she found what she was looking for, but the nightmares are more intense now.”

Cassandra was quiet for a moment. “Can we fix it?”

“I think I have to get over it all over again,” Damian answered.

“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked.

“I don’t – you don’t need to know.”

“Damian, it’s part of you, right?” Cassandra pointed out. “I’m here for it. For you.”

Damian went quiet, watching her with such an intensity, she was afraid whoever it was messing around in his head had taken over again, but then he looked sad.

“Maybe you should marry someone else,” he said softly.

What? “Damian, don’t say that.”

“I hurt you. I can see it in your eyes. You don’t really trust me anymore, and I don’t really trust me, either.”

“I’ll get over it, Damian,” Cassandra said. “I’m tougher than I look.” Most figured she had a silver spoon in her mouth, but she didn’t. Her parents were _weird_ , but they’d raised her well.

“What if we can’t fix this?” he asked. “What if this never stops?”

Cassandra’s gaze hardened. “Don’t say that either. We _will_ fix it. You won’t always be like this. If I have to hunt down and beat the hell out of every spellcaster and vampire I can find to make you better, I will.”

Damian tisked under his breath. “Watcher, how can you say that after what I’ve said to you?”

“I told you Damian, I love you,” Cassandra said, her tone strong and sure. “This? This is nothing. We can get through this. Just one more trial along the way. I still believe in you, Damian. I still believe in _us_. Love isn’t always rainbows and cotton candy clouds. That’s just being in love, and being in love and love itself are not the same thing. Love is what remains when being in love has gone away, not a thing, or a feeling, it’s something people make. And sometimes you have to try really hard to make it, but it’s _worth_ it. Damian, _you_ are worth it.”

Damian stared at her for a moment, and then dropped his head, hiding in a pillow. “Watcher, I wasn’t ready for that.”

“You’re stuck with me,” she said, leaning over and kissing behind his ear. Damian wrapped his arms around her waist, and she sat up, pulling him into her lap properly.

“I missed this,” he said, sliding down and getting comfortable. “Just you and me. It’s almost like we never really have time for one another anymore. I kind of miss you.”

Cassandra snorted softly. “Yeah,” she said. “Esme was born, and university classes took over everything.” Even when they weren’t busy taking care of Esmeralda, because Morgyn or Caleb stepped in for them, they were probably too busy writing term papers and arranging presentations.

“I guess that’s part of becoming an adult,” Damian said. “I should’ve gone through this stage a few hundred years ago.” Hadn’t he been an adult since, like, 1766?

“I don’t think it works that way,” Cassandra said, amused. “We could go somewhere.”

Damian looked up at her, and arched an eyebrow. “Like where?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “Maybe the park. We could just take Esme to the park and spend some time together, enjoy the sunlight and fresh air. It might be good for you to get out of here for a bit anyway.”

Damian thought about it for a moment, and then nodded. “Yeah, that sounds nice. I’ll even try not to glower at your fans too much.”

Cassandra laughed, brushing her fingers against his cheek. “I appreciate it.”

“I’m still so tired,” Damian said, quietly.

“So sleep some more,” Cassandra said.

He made a sound of protest, but between her petting his hair and being exhausted, it didn’t take long for him to fall back asleep.

“I have other friends I can talk to,” Morgyn said. “The ones I’ve spoken to already have no idea what’s going on. Some of them feel like their magic is winking in and out.”

“That can’t be good,” Caleb grumbled.

“So, we still don’t know if it’s a spellcaster or a vampire,” Lilith said. “Caleb, did you ask any of our fanged friends in Forgotten Hollow if they’ve heard anything?”

“No,” Caleb answered, snorting. “I wasn’t terribly interested in running into the Count and maybe _dying_. You know, _again_.”

Lilith shook her head. “If both of us sense _something_ that we’ve felt before, it’s likely to be a vampire. And there’s only one vampire I can think of that’s _this_ crazy.”

Caleb drew a breath in, rocking back on his heels. “I don’t like this.”

“Which vampire?” Morgyn asked.

“The Count,” Caleb and Lilith answered at the same time.

“Count Vladislaus Straud,” Lilith filled in. “He founded and runs Forgotten Hollow. Most think he’s just uncannily similar to an ancestor that founded the Hollow, but those of us in the know… know better.”

“I’ve heard of him,” Morgyn said. “But what would he want with Damian? L. kind of makes sense at least.”

“Who knows?” Caleb asked, sighing. “Alright, I guess we’re heading into Forgotten Hollow sometime soon. I have one more friend I can talk to first.”

“Aren’t most of our friends in the Hollow?” Lilith asked. “How many more aren’t?”

“Just one,” Caleb said. “I was trying to leave him out of this, but he hears things all the same.”

“Alright,” Lilith said. “One more. And then we’re heading home for Winterfest.”

Morgyn arched an eyebrow upward.

Caleb snorted. “Fara til bat-land,” he said, and then growled under his breath.

“You’re not good at snowball fights are you,” Cassandra asked, smirking.

“Hey, I have aim at least!” Damian protested.

“Oh yeah?” Cassandra asked.

“Yeah!”

Cassandra smirked even more, reaching down and rolling a snowball, and throwing it at him. It hit his arm dead on.

“Ah, that actually kind of hurt!” Damian said.

“Yeah, I used to play softball in high school.”

“That’s cheating!” Damian argued.

Admittedly, though, it was a nice distraction from how much his head still hurt. Damian had to wonder if he’d always have a migraine, or if it really would eventually go away. He wanted to believe it would, but at this point, he had absolutely no faith in the idea it would.

Cassandra was being the optimistic one for them both, and considering she had occasionally _crippling_ depression, it was kind of weird.

Esmeralda had run off to go play in the small plastic tree house available. The snow was falling heavily, but the two of them found it was a nice thing. The sound of snow falling was peaceful in a strange way. The snow dampened the transfer of sound, and made the world seem quieter.

Eventually, Damian sat on one of the benches, watching Esme, and Cassandra sat next to him, and there they would’ve remained if it weren’t for _her_.

Her presence made his headache worse. She immediately came over, a woman in red and black, with dusky skin and dark brown hair, and fired off several magical shots. Cassandra stood up, and blocked them effortlessly, shielding Damian.

He, too, stood up and went to fire back, but his magic was still on the fritz, it’d seem. The energy pooled, and then spluttered right back out.

“Cass -“

“I got it,” she said, moving around the bench and firing return shots.

“Cass, no!”

“Watch Esme!”

Watch Esme, she said, like he could manage to stop watching this train wreck. Cassandra was a decent duellist, at least. Damian wondered if she’d been practising with Morgyn. That would explain a few things, and he was trying so hard not to think about it.

The brunette seemed to be going easy on her sometimes. It was obvious she wasn’t yet aiming to kill, but Damian could tell she _could_ , if she chose to. Cassandra had never needed to. Damian wasn’t sure if she could. Maybe she wasn’t even powerful enough.

Damian’s head suddenly started splitting. His teeth ground together from the sudden pain, but he forced himself not to look away. If anything went wrong, he thought _maybe_ he could … could _what_?

Another woman walked up, snow crunching audibly beneath her heels. It took Damian a moment, but he recognised her as L. – but she felt like the one in his head.

“Kill her,” Sarnai, presently in L., said.

“Are you sure?” the brunette asked.

“Yes,” Sarnai replied. “We are finding her grating. And maybe with her gone, the caster we were after will stop fighting so hard.”

We again… Damian moved around the side, and L.’s arm shot out, blasting him into a tree. He hit hard, slamming into the tree, then the ground, snow falling onto him.

“You may have escaped us once,” Sarnai said, “but you will not escape us this time.”

“I don’t know,” Damian said, coughing slightly, and trying to sit up. “My wife’s doing better than yours.”

“Sister,” Sarnai corrected. “And we’d check again if we were you.”

Damian turned, just as Lakshmi fired a magical chain at Cassandra. She was too slow, and it caught around her neck. At the last second, Cassandra shoved her hand between her neck and the chain. The chain unleashed a burst of electrical energy.

He was sure he’d have nightmares about the shriek that came out of Cassandra’s lungs.

“ _Cassie_!” Without thinking, Damian stood up, rushing over to Cassandra, and grabbed the chain. The electrical current went into _him_ instead of her, muscles instantly tensing, his jaw locking. It took a lot not to scream, but he wouldn’t give them the honour.

“ _No_!” Why would he do that?! Against her better judgement, Cassandra pulled on the chain as hard as she could, trying to get it dislodged from her neck.

Lakshmi sneered. “ _Wow_ , that was easy. How stupid do you have to be to dive into an electrical current’s path?” The current stopped a moment later.

Damian fell over into the snow. His muscles were still twitching from the electrical load, but it was fine. It’d stopped most of it from getting to her, at least. “Let her go,” Damian ground out.

“Why should we?” Sarnai asked. “Two of our most grating thorns out of our sides now, we’d be foolish to just, _let one go_.”

Damian stared at the snow, watched how the light sparkled on the white. And made up his mind.

“Let her go,” he repeated. “I know things Morgyn doesn’t. Things L. doesn’t know, or Simeon. Things that were lost thousands of years ago to the sands of time. I can make you sorely regret this moment, for however many agonising years I decide to leave you breathing. But if you let her go, I won’t. I’ll go with you, do whatever it is you want, just please, _please_ , don’t hurt her.”

“Damian,” Cassandra squeaked. “Damian no -“

“That was too easy,” Lakshmi said, her tone low.

“He is tired,” Sarnai said, smiling in triumph. “And too afraid to lose her. Let her go.”

Lakshmi snorted, but snapped her fingers. The chain disintegrated.

Cassandra fell to her knees in the snow. Damian rushed over, falling in front of her, sliding across the snow slightly. “Cassie,” he said, “are you okay?”

“Muscles are still spasming,” she answered through gritted teeth. “Please tell me you have a better plan than that.”

“I don’t,” he said. “But if they just want me, then fine.”

“ _Not fine_!” Cassandra answered, her tone going somewhat hysterical. “Damian don’t do this -“

“Shh,” Damian said, tapping a finger to her lips. “If it’s me or you, Cassie, I’m choosing you. Every time.”

“Not like _this_! Don’t make me lose you like this!”

“I can’t let you get hurt, Cassie. I can’t. You’re one of the only things I have that’s worth living for.”

Cassandra’s eyebrows furrowed. “I can’t lose you either,” she said. “We can figure something out, please, let me help you.”

“Do you remember what I told you?” Damian asked, quietly. “That you’ve given me something I never thought I’d have? I meant it, Cassie. You gave me peace. Morgyn left me, and never came back. I know why, but it doesn’t stop the pain and the anger and the sadness. The lord Morgyn was supposed to marry was not happy, threatened the entire family, killed our livestock, killed pa. I spent a week in a cage for saying something he didn’t like. I look just like Morgyn. He eventually decided I was close enough. I forgot how to trust. I couldn’t figure out how to love. I was afraid of what that even meant, and you came along and freed me from the chains I was afraid to let go of and I _can’t lose you_. I’m not even a full person anymore because of him, but you…”

“Damian…” He’d never told her any of that… she had so many questions, but right now – “Please, you’re not alone anymore,” she said, pleading. “You don’t have to do this alone. We’re stronger together, please let me help you.”

“I’m sorry,” Damian said, eyebrows furrowing in sadness. “I can’t take the risk. I can either protect you, or I can fight. This time, I cannot do both.” He reached over, brushing against her hair, and sparks lit in his hand.

She fell a moment later, and he caught her, gently laying her down in the snow. He brushed her hair back one last time, kissing her temple, and then sat up. “We’d better go,” he said.

“Come then,” Sarnai said, turning.

“Esme,” Damian called softly. “Come here.”

The girl toddled over to her father, stopping beside her mother. She looked at Cassandra in confusion. “Sleep in cold,” she said. “Not good.”

“No,” he said. “It’s not. But mommy’s too tired to get up. Daddy has to go somewhere with the ladies, okay? So sit right here, and wait for Morgyn.”

“Morgyn come?” Esme asked, tilting her head.

“Yes, Morgyn come,” Damian said. “Watch mommy okay?”

“That went smoother than I expected,” Lakshmi said.

Sarnai snorted, turning away. “Don’t let your guard down,” she said. “The others won’t be so easy. Damian was only because we weakened him first.”

“What’s next?” Lakshmi asked.

“Now, we break the Realm.”


	12. Chapter 12

“He said he was here…” Morgyn said, breath hanging in the air for a moment before vanishing.

Caleb frowned. Something felt wrong. “Do you sense that?” he asked.

Morgyn glanced at him, and then raised a hand, sparks lighting for a moment. “Someone had a magic battle right here.”

“Yeah…” That wasn’t what Caleb meant, there was something else he was sensing but he couldn’t pinpoint what it was.

It’d only been maybe a minute or two since Damian had texted Morgyn, saying it was important that Morgyn come here. Caleb hadn’t been doing anything anyway, and had come along. Morgyn glanced around, and then saw something gold and rectangular in the snow. Green eyes narrowed, and Morgyn went over to it, and picked it up. The lock screen that lit up when the phone was turned on was a picture of Cassandra and Esmeralda.

Why was Damian’s phone…

“Oh great,” Caleb said, waving his hands in annoyance.

“What?” Morgyn asked.

“ _Sarnai_ ,” Caleb snarled. And if it was Sarnai they were dealing with, they were all screwed because Caleb had no idea what she’d be after, or how to stop her. She was stronger than Vladislaus, and Caleb and Lilith hadn’t had a lot of luck stopping _him_.

“What?” Morgyn asked.

“Doesn’t matter right now,” Caleb answered. “We’d better find -“

“Morgynnn mommy cold!” came a small, high voice. Morgyn turned immediately.

“Cassandra!”

“This just keeps getting better,” Caleb said under his breath, following Morgyn as the Sage fell over into the snow, leaning down over Cassandra.

“She’s still breathing,” Morgyn said, and then held a hand out. Magic lit up, for just a moment, and then went away. “I’m starting to _**really**_ hate text messages.”

“At this point, I can’t blame you,” Caleb said, kneeling down next to Esmeralda. “She’s okay, right?”

“Yeah,” Morgyn answered. “Just asleep. Damian did that, but what I don’t understand is why. Esme,” Morgyn turned around to face the girl, now clinging to Caleb’s side. “What happened?”

“Daddy went bye bye,” Esme said. “I watch mommy until Morgyn come!”

“What?” Morgyn asked, features scrunching in confusion. “Where did daddy go bye bye to? Why? Did he say anything else?”

“Morgyn, slow down,” Caleb said. “She’s two, I don’t think she knows any more than you do. Are you cold, Esme?”

“Burrrrrr,” Esme answered. “Mommy burrrrrr.”

“Here, stay with Morgyn, uncle Caleb’ll get mommy,” Caleb said, nudging the girl towards Morgyn. Morgyn looked concerned, but reached down and took Esmeralda’s hand, and Caleb knelt down long enough to get Cassandra off the snow and up into his arms.

Answers would have to wait until Cassandra woke up.

“Well, well, _well_ ,” came a rather high-pitched but masculine voice. Caleb stopped not far outside the house, turning to find Kane walking up beside him. “If it isn’t Caleb Vatore, wandering around in the sunlight, now this you don’t see every day.”

Caleb laughed. “Yeah I guess not,” he said. “Dion didn’t hear?”

“Hear what?” Kane asked. “That you left Forgotten Hollow to go join an army of spellcasters? Nope, didn’t hear that at all.”

“Ah, that’s not what I meant, no,” Caleb said, one hand raising to scratch at his ear. “But that’s um, that’s good to know. I’m human now.”

“Is that why you don’t glow like one of the Beacons of Gondor anymore?” Kane asked.

“I did not glow like – what’s Gondor?” Caleb asked, looking confused.

“Never mind,” Kane answered, laughing. “Dion’s in the house of course. Probably helping Nathalie with her homework or something.”

It was more strange than he expected it to be, being around vampires again. It’d been a long time since he’d interacted with any of them in person, and he understood now what other Sims had meant when they said he was unnerving.

A vampire his age must’ve dang near caused unfortunate embarrassing accidents, because Dion made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, and Dion hadn’t been a vampire long. He also had precisely no interest in getting stronger as one.

That was why he and his little family lived in Brindleton Bay, not the Hollow.

“Hey Di,” Caleb greeted.

“Yo, if it isn’t Casanova,” Dion said, smiling.

“I’m gonna go do my homework,” Nathalie said. “ _Upstairs_.”

Dion laughed. “Alright, if you need help just come back down here.”

“Kane, you let me know if this guy ever files for a divorce,” Caleb said. “Or you just get bored, I’ll show you a good time.”

Kane rolled his eyes. “That didn’t work five years ago, Caleb, nothing’s changed.”

“You’re awfully resistant to my charms, yes,” Caleb said. It was nice to know, though, their marriage was still so strong. They were relationship goals, really.

Dion glared at Caleb a little, but he let it go. Caleb was just like that, even if it did grate his nerves. Kane went to bed with _him_ , not Caleb, and Dion had put that ring on his finger, too.

“Sorry to drop by unannounced, but this is important,” Caleb said, settling down in a seat.

Dion frowned slightly. “That can’t be good,” he said. “Important to you is apocalyptic to the rest of us.”

Caleb rolled his eyes. ” I caught whiff of Sarnai.”

Dion’s features immediately steeled. Anything involving Sarnai was bad news, and even Sims that hadn’t met her before knew it. Her reputation kind of preceded her.

Kane looked confused. “Sarnai?” Kane asked.

“Don’t speak the witch’s name lest ye summon her crazy self,” Dion said. “I ain’t had nothin’ to do with it, and if you got yourself on the wrong side’a Sarnai you on your own man I hate to tell you.” Dion had absolutely no interest in getting Kane or Nathalie anywhere near Sarnai.

Some called her the Countess, because she was Vladislaus Straud’s right hand. Most thought that was Miss Hell, but Miss Hell got the scraps. Sarnai got the big assignments, and Vladislaus let her mostly to her own devices. That was kind of dangerous, as Sarnai was so hard to control in the first place, even for Vlad, and letting her run amok unchecked was asking for trouble.

So far, though, Sarnai had been in hibernation for around a century. Dion hadn’t ever met her; _seen_ her before, sure, in hibernation at Straud manor the _one_ time Dion was in it, but what he’d sensed off her when he was there was enough for him to decide he didn’t ever wanna find out what colour her eyes were.

“I know,” Caleb said. “I won’t ask you to help. I just want to know if you’ve heard anything. Last I knew, Sarnai was still in hibernation.”

Dion shook his head, standing up and pacing. “Nah,” he said. “I did hear somethin’ a few weeks back about the Count wanting into Magic Realm. Now what that’s got to do with the price’a tea in China, that I don’t know.”

“Vladislaus wants into Magic Realm?” Caleb asked.

“The one and only,” Dion answered. Of course, nobody told Sarnai what to do except Vlad anyway, so maybe this was the only logical answer to anything.

“What would he want with the spellcasters?” Caleb asked, frowning and tilting his head.

“Who knows?” Dion said. “Maybe he’s just bored.”

“So he starts a war with the spellcasters?” Caleb asked. “He’s nuts, but I don’t think he’s _that_ nuts.”

“I think you’re underestimating how nuts he is, man,” Dion said. “And to make matters worse, the guy’s evil, maybe there ain’t a reason at all. You’re expecting evil and crazy to make sense, I don’t think it can.”

Caleb huffed, flopping back on the couch. “Lilith and I are headed to Forgotten Hollow soon,” he said. “No idea how that’ll turn out. I’ll try and leave you out of this one, but be careful. I have no idea what’s going on and why Sarnai’s awake.”

Dion snorted. “Ain’t worry bout me none,” he said. “You just do the smart thing and take a lotta garlic witchu.”

“Why’s’e gotta do that,” Dion grumbled.

Kane smiled slightly, washing Nathalie’s dishes from that morning, and then gave Dion a look. “You know him,” Kane said. “It’s part of his charm.”

“Charm,” Dion said, snorting. “You know it was grating in high school and it still is.”

“Oh Dion,” Kane said. “Some things don’t change, huh?” Dion liked Caleb well enough. They were pretty good friends, actually, as it was Caleb that helped him figure out how to deal with this vampirism business. Dion just… didn’t like people looking at Kane the wrong way more.

“Sorry,” Dion mumbled.

“You shouldn’t worry so much,” Kane said, moving over and tapping his forehead against Dion’s. “I married _you_ , right?”

“I know,” Dion answered, sighing. “I just…”

“Yeah,” Kane said. “I love you too.”

“Should’ve married somebody still human,” Dion said.

Kane smiled. “And miss out on your weirdly adorable possessiveness, which, by the way, is everything? No way.”

“Watcher, am I glad to see you,” Morgyn said, sitting down at the table across from Simeon. Okay, two texts that were really bad, and then one that wasn’t so bad.

“Yeah, sorry about that mess,” Simeon said. “I didn’t have the time to explain anything. And now I have to try and stay where there are a lot of people.”

“What’s going on, exactly?” Morgyn asked.

Simeon sighed. “Honestly, I don’t know. L. started acting weird, you saw that, and then after you left, your duplicate started acting weird, too. I was just carrying on like nothing had changed, and your copy got up one morning and started shooting magic at me. Listen, you’re a great friend and everything, but if you ever make me deal with you shooting at me, I’m just going to quit everything. Your duplicate’s no joke in a duel either.”

“That bad, huh?” Morgyn asked, wincing.

“I’m pretty sure the only reason I got out of the Realm in one piece is I somehow managed to trick the duplicate into smacking into L. That took some doing. Your copies aren’t terribly smart, Morgyn.”

“Well, currently, thank the stars for that much.” Morgyn sighed. Everything was going south suddenly, and nothing was adding up. And this Sarnai Caleb mentioned, Morgyn still wasn’t sure what that was. It sounded like a name, but Caleb had run off as soon as they’d gotten home to talk to a Dion or whatever he said his name was.

“You’re not having problems too, are you?” Simeon asked.

“Damian’s gone,” Morgyn said quietly. “Whatever got L. and apparently my duplicate also got Damian.”

“Your brother?”

“Yeah.”

Simeon sighed. “So what now?”

“I’m trying to figure that out,” Morgyn said. “I haven’t gotten any leads. Most of those I ask about this have just noticed L. acting weird, and a few of them say their magic is kind of on the fritz anymore for no apparent reason.”

Simeon frowned. “Morgyn, you don’t think whoever this is is after the core, do you?”

Morgyn blinked. That wasn’t a possibility that had come to mind thus far, no, but in hindsight, Morgyn wasn’t sure why not. That’d make sense of a lot of things, why they’d gone after the Sages, why the Realm was apparently screaming in pain, why spellcaster magic was fading in and out… It was the core that sustained Magic Realm, and that gave casters access to magic in the first place. Glimmerstones were little pieces of the core.

When they’d become Sages, they’d all been warned this was possible. If a single person merged the core into themselves, it would grant immense power, but Morgyn didn’t ever think anyone was _seriously_ that daft.

“On the bright side,” Morgyn said, “we’re still alive, and neither of us has lost it.”

Simeon snorted. “Yeah, but if we don’t know who we’re up against, it’ll be hard to make a push back. And if your brother is gone now, too, then we’re at a slight disadvantage because we have no one to make up for L.”

Morgyn sighed, looking out the window. Simeon was right, though Morgyn didn’t want to admit it. “I just don’t know what they wanted Damian for.”

“Why else?” Simeon asked. “You’re the most powerful duellist in the Magic Realm. If they went after you directly, they’d probably die in seconds. _Indirectly_ , though… and to sweeten the deal, Damian’s just as powerful as you are, isn’t he? He could break it. The barrier around the core.”

Morgyn frowned, eyebrows furrowing, gaze narrowing. “Breaking the core’s barrier has a very high chance of killing him, Simeon.” It’d take up too much energy, and _release_ too much energy. That was why no one had managed to do it before, though supposedly many had tried over the centuries.

“Yeah,” Simeon said. “But hey, it wouldn’t kill whoever wants it broken.”


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Morgyn has Many Feelings and is crap at dealing with every single friggin one. That is all.

This was ridiculous. Morgyn had gone to bed about five times now, and every time, fell asleep for maybe ten minutes and then woke right back up. In the end, Morgyn had given up, wandered over to the window to watch the city below. San My was always active, always had something going on, and it was a nice distraction.

Not that there was anything _wrong_ , but _if there was_ … How long would it take before Morgyn got Damian back? It wasn’t like Morgyn didn’t know where they were going now, thanks to that conversation with Simeon. Except Morgyn alone wasn’t enough. The spellcaster Cassandra had fought with, combined with L., might be enough to give Morgyn a run for it. Never mind there was always the potential of ending up facing Damian, and Morgyn couldn’t defeat Damian.

It was funny, wasn’t it? The most powerful of them was Damian, or at least he was if you asked Morgyn.

“Morgyn?” Caleb’s very sleepy voice grumbled, as he sat up in bed to squint across the room.

Morgyn breathed in. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you up.”

Caleb was quiet for a moment, and then tilted his head. “Can’t sleep?” he asked.

No. And napping during the day wasn’t working, either. It was the absolute most annoying thing Morgyn had ever had to deal with. Also annoying was trying to eat, because Morgyn spent most of the time nauseous now. It was what it was, and Morgyn was just trying to work around it, though Caleb seemed to think it was a bigger thing than it was.

“I’ll try again in a few minutes,” Morgyn said.

For a moment, Morgyn thought Caleb had gone to sleep, and then heard the sheets moving around, and Caleb’s arms wrapped around Morgyn’s, his head resting on one shoulder. Morgyn leaned back into him slightly.

“It’ll be okay,” Caleb said, only for the thousandth time in the last week.

“So you keep saying,” Morgyn answered quietly. “I just can’t help but think what if it isn’t? What if I figure this out too late, what if -“

_Yeah, but hey, it wouldn’t kill whoever wants it broken._

Morgyn paused, swallowing. What if Morgyn failed him, and Damian was gone forever? Morgyn was afraid to say the words, so didn’t.

“Morgyn, look,” Caleb said, gently rubbing one arm. “You’re one of the smartest people I know, and one of the strongest spellcasters. If anyone can figure it out, it’s you, okay? Now’s not the time to be having these kinds of doubts.”

It wasn’t like it was the first time. Just the first time that Caleb had a front-row seat for it, that was all. “I know,” Morgyn answered. They both went quiet for a moment. “… Cassandra hates me now.”

Caleb snorted. “She’s just upset,” he said, “and understandably so, but I don’t think she hates you.”

Caleb could _say_ that, but he didn’t see the vicious looks Cassandra was shooting Morgyn’s way these days. Thanks, Morgyn hated it.

“Come on,” Caleb said, taking Morgyn’s hands and gently tugging back toward their bed. “At least rest.”

“Mama, book,” Esme said. Cassandra supposed the distraction from the pain in her heart might be a good idea, and it’d be a while before she saw Esme again, she was sure.

“Okay,” Cassandra agreed with a slight sigh. “Which one?”

“This,” Esme answered, handing Cassandra one of the picture books.

Cassandra sat down on the bed, flipping the book open. Esme settled down on the floor. It was a short story, of course. Most toddler books were, short and full of brightly coloured pictures. Cassandra read along, and then turned the book so Esmeralda could see the pictures.

Some part of her was sad about this decision, but it was for the best. So many things could have gone wrong in the two or three minutes it took Morgyn to answer Damian’s text message and make it to the park, so many things could have gone wrong in the few minutes Cassandra was fighting with the other spellcaster. So far, Esmeralda had been okay; but that could so very easily change, and something told Cassandra this wasn’t going to be so simple as asking them kindly to give her husband back.

So, instead, Cassandra was taking Esmeralda to her parents’ house today. Mortimer and Bella were in a much better emotional state, too. The rest of the apartment was full of sadness and confusion and worry, and maybe Esmeralda didn’t need to be around _that_ , either. Cassandra trusted no one more than her own parents. They could protect Esme where Cassandra may not be able to if a war broke out.

She sincerely hoped it didn’t, but these kinds of things didn’t respectfully avoid going terribly if you didn’t have a contingency plan.

“Mama, it’s a house!” Esme said.

Cassandra smiled, albeit sadly. “Yes it is,” she said. “Mama grew up here.”

“Here?” Esme asked. “Big house…”

Cassandra would miss the little ball of excitement, for sure. But things were the way they were, and it wasn’t like Cassandra would never see her again. Well, unless this war with whoever it was turned out to be the death of her.

She wouldn’t think of that. Instead, Cassandra tapped on the door.

“Coming,” a masculine voice answered. Cassandra recognised that as her father. Shortly after, Mortimer pulled the door open. “Cassandra, it’s so good to see you!” he said, reaching over and hugging her.

Cassandra smiled slightly. “Hi daddy,” she greeted. Sometimes, it was nice just to be home.

Shortly, they were joined by Bella, and they talked for a while on the porch. Cassandra was trying not to look upset, but she was sure she did.

“Are you okay?” Bella asked, after a few minutes.

Yeah, she had a feeling she looked upset. Cassandra shook her head. “It’s – I’ll – Damian’s missing.”

“What?” Bella asked, her eyebrows drawing together. “Oh Cassie, you don’t think he got a mistress, do you?”

“No,” Cassandra said, “mom, I mean… about a week ago, we took Esme to the park, and someone came up and started shooting magic at us and Damian’s powers have been on the fritz. Things get fuzzy, and then everything goes black and when I woke up he was gone.”

Bella frowned, glancing at Mortimer.

“Everyone’s powers have been on the fritz,” Mortimer said.

“Why?” Cassandra asked.

“Isn’t that the question?” Bella asked in return. “No one seems to know, the magic just comes and goes.”

Cassandra frowned, and then shook her head slightly. “Damian had a mental intruder problem,” she said. “He expended a lot of energy fighting them off, I figure that was what was wrong with his magic.”

“Maybe,” Bella allowed, “but maybe a little of what’s going on with everyone else. Whatever’s going on sounds like it may get pretty dangerous.”

“I know,” Cassandra said. “That’s why I’m here. Would you look after Esmeralda for me? Just until we can figure out what’s going on and fix it, and bring Damian home. I don’t want her in harm’s way, and I trust no one more than you.”

“Of course, pumpkin,” Mortimer answered. “She’s welcome to stay as long as you need.”

Cassandra smiled. “Thank you. I brought um, her favourite toys and books, and some diapers for now, she is learning the potty and…” Cassandra paused, and blinked back tears.

Bella reached over, resting her hand on her daughter’s shoulder. And somehow Cassandra couldn’t fight it anymore, reaching over and hugging her mother and crying. Bella didn’t tell her what everyone else did. That everything would be okay. She just held her and pet her hair. Mortimer took the bag of Esme’s things.

“Come on Esme,” Mortimer said, “let’s go play trains.”

“Jeez, I hate this place,” Caleb grumbled.

“I know,” Lilith said, glancing at him. “We won’t be here long.”

“At least, you hope,” Caleb said wryly. “Let’s just get this over with. Where to first? I don’t imagine the Count would be quite pleased to see us anyway, so maybe we’d better just go home.” Inna, Vlad, and Elle had moved into the Wolfsbane Manor. They were notably more tolerable.

“That sounds like a good idea,” Lilith said. “Who lives over there, though?” She pointed at the house next door to Wolfsbane. The lights were on for once, and they hadn’t had neighbours when they’d lived here.

“No one either of us likes,” a female voice said.

Unfortunately for them, their senses were notably duller than they had been when both were vampires. Lilith frowned, turning to the newcomer, and Caleb slid into a defensive stance.

“Relax,” Miss Hell said. “I’m not out to snap your necks. … _yet_.”

“Then what do you want?” Lilith asked.

“Your help,” Miss Hell answered.

Caleb snorted, loudly and derisively. “I don’t think either of us is interested in helping you.”

“Oh but you are,” Miss hell replied. “You see, there’s a thorn in my side in the Hollow these days, and that thorn happens to also be in _your_ side, if the rumours are to be believed. All of us want the same thing. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, or whatever the saying is, right?”

“Neither of us trusts you,” Lilith said. “And how can we?”

“Oh please,” Miss Hell said, snorting. “Don’t be taking the moral high ground now. You were just as undead as the rest of us, and you did your fair share of terrible things, too.” She paused a moment, shifting her weight. “I’m sure by now you’ve both figured out Sarnai’s awake. You know I don’t like her, and whatever it takes to see her fail in this one, I’ll deal with, even if it means teaming up with _you_.”

Lilith and Caleb exchanged glances. Still, neither trusted her, but it’d be useful to have someone on the inside that could pass them information. On the other hand, Sarnai was dangerous.

“You do know if Sarnai finds out you’re helping us in any capacity, you’re dead, right?” Lilith asked.

“You let me worry about that, and focus on stopping her,” Miss Hell answered. “She’s breaking into Magic Realm. From what I understand, Vladislaus wants something called the All, whatever that is. I don’t believe for a second Sarnai intends to give it to him, though he doesn’t suspect otherwise, and if Sarnai gets this All thing, I think we’re all screwed. It’s supposed to be pretty powerful.”

The All…? Neither of the Vatores had ever heard of it. But most likely, Morgyn had.

As Caleb and Lilith were right, and this was a vampire they were dealing with, Morgyn figured it was for the best to brush up on vampire knowledge. There wasn’t much Morgyn hadn’t learned at some point in these books, but there _was_ a recipe for a drink that’d help one resist vampire abilities. That would’ve been nice to know a long time ago, but at least Morgyn knew it _now_.

The door opened and closed. Seemed Caleb and Lilith were back from the Hollow.

“Morgyn?” Caleb’s voice called.

“Upstairs,” Morgyn answered. The sound of them shuffling around downstairs and coming up were audible in the quiet; Cassandra had already gone to sleep (and by gone to sleep, Morgyn meant she’d _cried_ herself to sleep, and that was hard to listen to). Caleb settled down beside Morgyn, Lilith stopping in front of the both.

“Someone that we could safely label an enemy wants our help,” Lilith explained. “Miss Hell. She says Sarnai is out of hibernation because the Count decided to send her after the All. What the heck is the All?”

Morgyn frowned. “So Simeon was right.”

“About what?”

“There’s a crystalline core at the centre of Magic Realm,” Morgyn said. “We call it the core now, but ancient spellcasters called it the All. It is from which all magical energy comes, and to which it all must one day return, and sustains Magic Realm and grants spellcasters their magic. It’s partly the Sages’ jobs to protect it, but mostly it protects us, not the other way around.”

Lilith frowned. “What would a vampire want something like _that_ for?”

Morgyn shrugged one shoulder. “One theoretically could use it to grant vampires more directly offensive magic, or augment the abilities they already have. Or just turn themselves into the greatest, and most dangerous, magical powerhouse known to Simkind, you know, nothing serious.”

Lilith frowned. “Your definition of serious and mine need to have a chat. So what now?”

“Simeon is okay, but he was driven out of the Realm,” Morgyn said. “That means we’re down a Sage and Damian is just as powerful as I am. We’re at a serious disadvantage, and the more your Sarnai messes with the All, the more unstable spellcaster magic is. So we need to figure out a way to get into the Realm without Sarnai instantly throwing us back out, and preferably find a way of taking her down.”

“Sarnai’s a daywalker,” Caleb said. “Sunlight doesn’t work on her. She’s also immune to garlic.”

“And good luck getting close enough to stake her,” Lilith added.

“… mission impossible, got it,” Morgyn grumbled.

Everyone had gone to sleep, except Morgyn and Caleb. Caleb was practising magic. It seemed like a smart idea, and something useful to pass the time with. He wasn’t sure off-hand what Morgyn was doing, but the more time went on, the more stressful this seemed to be.

Of course, if this was Caleb and Lilith, he supposed he’d be a wreck too. The part that concerned him was that Morgyn wasn’t talking about it, just throwing everything into figuring out how to take Sarnai down, and Caleb was pretty sure they’d need a miracle for that.

Still, it was worth a try. Even Caleb missed the skittish runt by now.

Somewhere between one burst of sparkles and the other, Caleb heard crying. At first, he figured it was Cassandra, but after a moment, realised that didn’t _sound_ like Cassandra. It sounded like Morgyn.

Caleb didn’t waste any time wondering what was wrong, just followed the sound to their room. Caleb opened the door, and Morgyn was half curled into a ball on the floor. “Oh, Morgyn,” Caleb said, his tone hushed.

“I’m sorry,” Morgyn said, hiccuping and sniffling. “I’m sorry, I don’t – I don’t know why I’m – I’m sorry -“

“Shh,” Caleb said, kneeling down and wrapping his arms around Morgyn’s smaller frame. “It’s okay to be upset.”

“I don’t h-have _time_ to be -“

“This isn’t about having time or not,” Caleb said. “You can’t just ignore your own emotions.”

Morgyn went quiet, save for the hiccups and sobs that twisted Caleb’s heart, because he knew this hurt, and nothing Caleb could say could make it any better. It wasn’t like Caleb could just magic it better, or take the pain and the fear away.

“What if he doesn’t come back?” Morgyn asked in a small voice. “Simeon th-thinks they want’im to break the barrier around the All. Caleb it’ll kill’im, what if I lose him?”

“Hey, no,” Caleb said, shifting around to cradle Morgyn’s jaw in his hands. “No, don’t think that way. We _will_ get him back.”

“M’scared,” Morgyn whispered. “I’ve never been so scared in my life, it can’t end like that.”

Caleb shook his head. “Don’t do this to yourself, Morgyn. You can’t think of what if. We _will_ fix this. We _will_ win.”

Morgyn’s features scrunched up, a quiet squeak loosing, and Caleb pulled Morgyn against him again. None of this was fair, but life wasn’t fair. After several hundred years of it, Caleb should know that by now.

The hiccuping slowed, but the tears barely did. One moment Caleb was holding Morgyn, and the next, Morgyn’s lips were against his. And Caleb didn’t fight it. He didn’t know if Morgyn was the one that wanted the warmth, or if it was him that did, but maybe it didn’t matter.

Come on, where was she… Lakshmi wasn’t happy about being here by herself, tapping her leg restlessly. And then a burst of black smoke rose from the ground, and materialised into Sarnai.

“Thank Watcher,” Lakshmi said. “You finally made it through.”

“Yes,” Sarnai said. “We did.”


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Morgyn still sucks at every single feeling.

The only problem with sleeping up here was the rising sun came right in the windows behind the bed. Morgyn already had a headache, but surprisingly had slept better last night than any other night so far.

Caleb hadn’t woken up yet, and Morgyn didn’t want him to, more content to just lay here next to him and pretend, for a short while, that everything was okay. Caleb smelled of specifically Madagascar vanilla, and some sort of evergreen. Perhaps spruce. Either way, Morgyn found the scent calming.

“Morning,” Caleb mumbled.

Oh. He _was_ awake. “Morning,” Morgyn answered quietly. “The sunlight’s so bright.” The complaint was actually that Morgyn’s head hurt, but that sounded better somehow. Morgyn scooted a little closer to Caleb, hiding from the light in his shoulder.

“Yeah,” Caleb answered. “Still not used to _how_ bright.”

Morgyn snorted. “Why’d you move up here, anyway?”

Caleb shrugged a shoulder. “It smells like you,” he said, as if that explained everything, and yet maybe in some sense it did.

Desperately trying not to turn pink, Morgyn stood up and moved for the door. “If you say so.”

“Hey,” Caleb started, reaching out faster than Morgyn could follow the motion and grabbing the Sage’s wrist. “We need to talk.”

Morgyn spent a few moments marvelling at how fast Caleb could move when he wanted to, every bit like the predator he used to be, and then arched an eyebrow. “About what?”

“You,” Caleb said. “I don’t want to push you, Morgyn, I don’t, but you can’t… keep all this pain in there.” The only reason he’d let Morgyn redirect him last night because in that much pain, it was fully possible Morgyn would’ve taken it as a rejection, and Caleb could _never_ , for one thing. And for another, Morgyn didn’t need any more pain, especially not from Caleb, however accidental that might’ve been.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Morgyn said, green eyes steeling.

Caleb’s gaze softened slightly, head tilting just a hair. “I was there last night,” Caleb said. “I think you know exactly what I’m talking about.”

Morgyn stared at him for a few moments, and then yanked the hand Caleb had claimed back. “No I don’t.” Morgyn then slipped off the bed and headed for the door.

“Oh no you don’t,” Caleb spat under his breath, rolling out of bed and darting for the door too. Thanks to his still-heightened movement capabilities, Caleb got there first, firmly planting between the door and Morgyn.

“Now you’re just being ridiculous,” Morgyn said, looking annoyed.

Caleb didn’t care. “I don’t think I am. I know you don’t want to think about it, but you can’t survive on shoving your emotions into a dusty corner. That’s not how they work, you and I both know that. Or at least you _should_.”

Should, he said. Morgyn supposed he didn’t know that running from things was a speciality of Morgyn’s. And if Morgyn hadn’t been a paragon of running away from things, maybe none of this would’ve happened. “I really don’t want to have this conversation with you.”

“I think you need to,” Caleb said. “Sooner or later, the dam’s going to break, Morgyn, and I don’t want to watch you destroy yourself like this.”

“What am I supposed to tell you?!” Morgyn said, tone raising slightly. “How much I wish I had answers for this and for all my knowledge and experience I don’t? How maybe if I wasn’t such a coward this would’ve turned out differently? How I’m terrified of losing Damian and yet at the same time it doesn’t feel like I have a _right_ to be because I sure as hell spent a lot of time ignoring he existed to decide _now_ I give a -” Morgyn paused, and irritatingly, tears welled up and spilled over. One hand raised, pressing against Morgyn’s forehead. It wasn’t like it changed anything.

“Yeah,” Caleb said. “That’s exactly what you’re supposed to tell me.” And then Caleb wordlessly crossed the space between them, pulling Morgyn into a hug.

“What is the point?” Morgyn asked. “What is the point of all this power if when it _matters_ …” And even if Morgyn had been there, there was no saying that anything would’ve gone differently. “I just want things to go back to the way they used to be. And maybe the second time around, I’d do things _right_.”

Caleb sighed, slightly, trying to figure out what to say. It wasn’t like there were magic words to say here, like Abracadabra, you’re not upset anymore, and _he_ was the one that pushed Morgyn into talking. “I don’t think you did things _wrongly_ , Morgyn,” Caleb said quietly. “You just did the best you could with what you had.”

Morgyn snorted. “No, I ran from it all,” was the sour response. “I ran from everything and made Damian deal with it all instead. And I should’ve known better than to move in, I shouldn’t have let Cassandra talk me into this no matter how much I missed Damian because I should’ve _known_ was putting all of you in danger.”

“I don’t think you can blame yourself for that, Morgyn” Caleb answered. “No one should be afraid of being around their family.”

“No,” Morgyn said, “but life isn’t fair like that and we both know it. It’s amazing he puts up with me anyway after I left him to deal with everything on his own.”

“That’s what brothers _do_ ,” Caleb said. “If the roles were reversed, would you be angry with him?”

Morgyn thought about it for a moment. “Maybe a little,” Morgyn answered. “But not enough to stop wanting to see him.”

“See?” Caleb asked. “I know this is tough. I’m not expecting miracles and you shouldn’t either. We are only human, after all. But I’m here. For what it’s worth, I’m here if you need me, to help in any way, to listen, whatever it is. But you can’t beat yourself up like this. Things happened. There’s no sense in trying to go backward and undo it because going forwards is hard enough, and if you spend too long focused on what you couldn’t do, you’ll fail at what you can do.”

And the thing that ticked Morgyn off the most was that he was right. But, Caleb was right. No matter how much it hurt, it couldn’t become an obstacle, because then there’d be more that hurt. Morgyn didn’t answer right away, simply clung to Caleb and tried to get the tears under control.

And Caleb, bless him and his unending patience, just held Morgyn and waited. And Morgyn understood what the whispering in the heart was right then.

“What’d you do with that ring?” Morgyn asked.

Caleb looked perplexed, but shrugged a shoulder gently. “It’s in the top drawer of the dresser,” he said. “Why?”

“When this is over,” Morgyn whispered, “Morgyn Vatore sounds nice. So I do believe that ring is mine.”

“What?” Caleb asked. “Really?”

“Yeah,” Morgyn said. “Really.”

_Well imagine, as I’m pacing the pews in a church corridor, and I can’t help but to hear-_

Earbuds at least drowned everything else in the apartment out. It wasn’t like they had neighbours, but Caleb was busy doing something, Lilith was talking to Miss Hell or whatever her name was, and Cassandra was still glaring daggers. She seemed to be feeling a little better, at least.

Just not in Morgyn’s direction.

“ _I chime in with a haven’t you people ever heard of~_ ” It was quiet and under Morgyn’s breath, but not quite as quiet as expected.

“What the heck are you singing?” Caleb’s voice asked, coming down the stairs.

Morgyn snorted. “Just -“

“Panic! At the Disco,” Cassandra answered, stopping behind the couch. “ _I Write Sins Not Tragedies_.”

“You know them?” Morgyn asked.

“Sure,” Cassandra said. “I know a lot of similar music. I was kind of a cross between a goth and an emo in my grade school days. You get that way in the Goth house. I’m just surprised _you_ know them. Aren’t you three hundred and _French_ or something?” If she remembered right, that was what Damian had told her, and if it was true for him…

Morgyn’s head tilted to one side, as the gears started turning… and then it clicked _how much_ Cassandra likely knew. “… this does explain why you keep glaring at me,” Morgyn said.

Cassandra sighed. “Yeah, probably,” she said. “I know it’s not really your fault. I just can’t help but feel a little bitterness all the same.”

“I’m mad at me too,” Morgyn said. “If it’s any consolation.”

Cassandra shook her head. “Damian doesn’t blame you, you know. Not really. Because there was no way you could know any of that would happen.”

“It just feels like I should’ve been there,” Morgyn said.

“And honestly, Damian’s glad you weren’t,” Cassandra said, resting a hand on Morgyn’s shoulder. “I have a presentation to work on, but I’ll find you later. Panic! is still making music. I’ll give you some of their newer stuff.” Cassandra gave a slight smile, and then headed upstairs.

Caleb passed her on the way, and settled down on the couch. “See?” Caleb said, reaching over and pulling Morgyn against him. “She doesn’t hate you.”

Morgyn snorted. “I don’t know how she doesn’t, if she knows about Lord Dussault.”

Caleb blinked. “Dussault?” he asked.

“Jean Dussault,” Morgyn said. “He had an odd infatuation with me, demanded my hand in marriage. My father said no, but he pushed and threatened and Damian helped me run. I never went back.”

“Jean Dussault was my uncle,” Caleb said quietly. “He was my father’s brother.”

“Jean was a -” … spellcaster. That explained how Caleb got his dormant magic. “Spellcaster,” Morgyn finished.

Caleb tilted his head. “Yeah, I guess he was. I didn’t spend much time with him. I didn’t like him very much. But I do remember his foyer had floating candles in it if you came at the right time.”

“I wasn’t fond of him either, but he owned the lands our family worked and lived on. I had to be nice to him, it just became too much.”

Caleb snorted. “Yeah, he got that way easily. … you were a girl back then, huh?”

Morgyn nodded. “Rosalie de -“

“Lorraine,” Caleb finished. “We’ve met before.”

“So you know what Damian won’t tell me,” Morgyn said, sitting up to look at Caleb properly. “What happened after I left?”

Caleb saddened, but he drew a breath in. “Are you sure you want to know that?”

“Yes,” Morgyn answered, almost immediately.

“I wasn’t there, so it’s all hearsay,” Caleb said, “but this is what I heard…”

Morgyn almost wished the question hadn’t been asked.

Sometimes, she had a momentary ability to think. In those brief moments of clarity, she had awareness of what was going on, albeit those moments of clarity were short. She had a husband and a child to think of, and it was difficult to figure out what to do with this. Why her, she wondered. Maybe the simple reality was that L.’s innately mischievous nature made it harder for others to tell when she was mentally slipping.

Her husband seemed to know something was wrong, though. He kept asking. She needed to go home but she wasn’t sure how to break herself loose of this vampire’s mind control. It was stronger than the stories told.

A thought crossed her mind. It took all of her willpower to wrench control of her mind out of the vampire’s grasp. _Focus_ , she told herself. _You’re not a Sage for nothing_. She was scared, sure. Anyone in her position might be, but it was often when one was the most terrified that they found the greatest bravery.

With a great yelp, L. forced her consciousness past Sarnai’s. And for a moment, she had control of her own body again. “ _DISSOLUTIO_!”

Swirls of red magic surrounded her. She watched her hand, as the magic pooled together, and slowly faded away. She couldn’t feel it anymore, once the light had gone. She couldn’t feel the Realm screaming for help, couldn’t sense the pulse of magic that ran through the Realm.

Her magic had gone, just like she’d wanted, and now Sarnai had no use for her.

The response was quick. A burst of shadow, and Sarnai materialised, looking quite displeased.

“What have you done?” she asked.

“It’s gone,” L. answered. “My magic is gone. You won’t use me for any more of your plans that require magic, vampire.” Softly, L. started to laugh. “I can’t believe that’s the best I could come up with. And I call myself a Sage.”

For a moment, Sarnai looked perplexed. And then she screamed in frustration, a loud and feral sound. It was enough to make L. step backward, and instinctively, she raised her arms, but the magic didn’t come.

Just like she’d wanted.

The wave of mental power hit her full-force, knocking her backward and into the table behind her. Seconds later, as she attempted to stand, pain ripped through her skull. It felt like it was trying to split, and L. screamed from the intensity and suddenness of it.

And then someone was in front of her, partially holding her up, a blur of green shielding her from Sarnai’s rage. “We gotta go,” Simeon said, gritting his teeth. He turned long enough to throw a dagger in Sarnai’s direction, and then yanked L. up off the floor and immediately teleported.

The dagger slammed into Sarnai’s shoulder. A hiss of frustration loosed, as the vampire reached up and yanked it out of her shoulder. No matter. L. wasn’t the important one anyway, and had no idea where the All was.

Still, Sarnai did not take well to _losing_.

“You were _supposed to be watching her_!” Sarnai immediately shrieked.

Damian took a step backward in surprise. “Watching who?” he asked.

“Don’t play stupid!” Sarnai snapped. “You were supposed to be watching L., and now we’ve lost her!”

That was good. Damian willed his features not to look too relieved, and instead focused on the anxiety. He had no idea whether Esmeralda was okay, if Cassandra ever woke up, if… “I… I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t know.”

“We remember telling you,” Sarnai said.

“I forget things,” Damian said. “When you get past a certain age, your memory’s not the greatest.”

Sarnai rested her hands on her hips. She was fairly old, and sometimes she forgot things… maybe that was believable. “Well, doesn’t matter,” she said. “L. was starting to grate our nerves anyway, and finding the All is more important. You don’t know where it is?”

Damian shook his head. Sarnai had only asked about three thousand times, but no, Damian didn’t know where the All was. “I know I _look_ like a Sage, but I’m not one, never have been one, and only Sages know where the All is.”

“L. didn’t seem to,” Sarnai answered.

“Then maybe no one knows, and we’ll just have to keep looking.”

Sarnai stared at him for a long time, but eventually loosed an airy snort. “Fine,” she said. “Find it then. And don’t mess up this time.”

As Sarnai disappeared in a cloud of black smoke, Damian released a breath he wasn’t aware he’d been holding. He turned to one side, catching sight of a magical mote. For a moment, he just watched it, and then moved over to absorb it.

He’d need all of his strength if he was going to pull off what he wanted to, and the motes would help him recover.


	15. Chapter 15

“Now what?” Lilith asked. Miss Hell wanted to meet her at the centre park in San My, to discuss plans. Mostly, Lilith didn’t like Caleb being around her, because Lilith was quite certain Miss Hell just had a weird infatuation with him, even if he wasn’t her childer anymore.

Considering that shiny new rock on Morgyn’s finger, Lilith was going to go with he had other things to worry about than Miss Hell.

“Nothing’s changed,” Miss Hell answered. “But I do need a few favours.” She paused long enough to hand Lilith a list.

“What’s this?” Lilith asked, taking the list.

“Names,” Miss Hell said, “that I want on gravestones. How good are you at staking vampires these days?”

“Oh no,” Lilith said. “I’m not becoming your personal vampire slayer.”

“We had an agreement.”

“Over _Sarnai_ ,” Lilith said.

Miss Hell looked annoyed. “You can’t back out of it now.”

“The heck I can’t,” Lilith argued. “I might remind you, _you’re_ the one that asked _us_ for help, not the other way around!”

“And if I hadn’t, you’d have eventually run into Vladislaus,” Miss Hell answered, her voice raising. “I saved your lives!”

“Oh _**please**_ ,” Lilith replied sarcastically. “Spare me the hero narrative! You would’ve taken great joy in watching us get our behinds kicked and you and I both know it! Not running into Vladislaus was a downside!”

“If I can’t take Sarnai down myself, how do you expect you can?” Miss Hell asked.

Lilith snorted. “I don’t know if you _noticed_ , Miss Hell, but you’re not exactly _threatening_.”

“Certainly more threatening than you!”

“Are you sure you want to take the chance of losing to a human?” Lilith asked.

“ _Fine_!” Miss Hell declared, throwing her hands up. “Good luck getting anywhere on your own!” Miss Hell then turned and stalked off.

Fine. That was probably for the best, anyway. Lilith didn’t exactly work well with others.

Who needed Miss Hell, anyway? Not them, that was for sure. Lilith never did like her to begin with, and with her copping an attitude like that, it was almost a wonder Lilith managed to work with her at all.

Angrily, Lilith punched the bag hard. It was almost enough to make her fingers sore from the impact, she was so mad. She hadn’t told any of the others about what had happened; they were all asleep like normal Sims. It could wait until morning.

In the meantime, now they were down their vampire leak, and maybe that was a problem. If nothing else, Sarnai had to report in with Vladislaus at some point. It wouldn’t be too hard to plant some bugs in the Straud Manor, if she could get close enough to it without reeking of alive.

Cassandra had managed to undo vampirism with magic. That gave Lilith an idea…

“Hey, just the Sim I wanted to see,” Lilith said, as Morgyn walked into the kitchen.

“Oh?” Morgyn asked. “What about?”

“Well, you know how Cassandra just sort of _undid_ vampirism with magic?” Lilith asked. Morgyn nodded. “Can you _do_ it with magic, then?”

Morgyn looked a bit surprised. “Technically, yes,” Morgyn answered slowly. “Any vampire that a spellcaster creates is sired by them, so they have similar links as a vampire and its childer do, but not quite the same. You can imagine the differences I’m sure.”

“Good,” Lilith said. And then drew a breath in. “Make me a vampire again.”

“I’m sorry, you what?”

Lilith couldn’t help the laugh at the look on Morgyn’s face. “I wish I had my phone right now.”

“What’s this I heard about becoming a vampire again?” Caleb asked, coming into the kitchen to stand beside Morgyn.

Morgyn was still frowning. “Your sister’s lost her marbles.”

“No, not really,” Lilith said. “I know where my marbles are. The ones I had left anyway. I may or may not have gotten into a very big fight with Miss Hell over morality, and she stalked off in a rage. We need a vampire on _our_ side and it clearly won’t be her. So, I volunteer.”

“Then I will too,” Caleb said.

“No,” Lilith replied, shaking her head. “I was always a better creature of the night than you anyway. It didn’t suit you very much. Besides, you’re doing pretty okay with this magic stuff.”

“I singed my hair the other day!” Caleb argued.

“Which was very amusing,” Lilith said. “Come on, growing pains are something that happens. But I took to vampirism like a duck to water, and I don’t trust anyone more than I trust myself.”

Morgyn arched an eyebrow, looking concerned. “I guess if you’re sure,” Morgyn said.

“I am,” Lilith replied. “I’ll even try not to ask you guys for plasma donations too much, and having a vampire around on our side would probably help stave off another possession problem.”

That was true. “Alright,” Morgyn said, sighing.

“ _Vampirio_ ,” Morgyn said, and a flick of the wrist, a burst of light, and it was done.

“That easy, huh?” Lilith asked, glancing down at her hand.

“I don’t really like this,” Caleb said. “What if you get into it with Vladislaus? We couldn’t take him with both of us before.”

“It’ll be fine,” Lilith said. “The worst that happens is I ask Morgyn to undo it again later.” She didn’t think she’d change her mind, though. She really was better suited to it than Caleb was. At least he was happy.

“A spellcaster-vampire duo could be quite the power team,” Morgyn said.

“Yeah,” Caleb said. “It’s how Sarnai and Lakshmi get so far, sometimes.”

“Ugh,” Lilith grumbled. “I _really_ hate this process though,” she said, holding her stomach.

“Side effect,” Morgyn said. “Sorry. Want some tea?”

“Chamomile tea sounds like a good idea, thanks,” Lilith answered.

Morgyn shuffled to the side to start making said tea. Caleb pinned his sister with a stare.

“What?” Lilith asked.

Caleb sighed. “I know you’re you, so you’ll do what you do,” he said. “But don’t try to tough it out just to be the hero, and admit it when you need help.”

Lilith smiled somewhat lopsided. “I won’t make you lose me.”

“You better not,” Caleb said. “I’m a spellcaster now. I can drag you back from the dead and kill you myself.”

Lilith just laughed. Theoretically, he could, but no, he couldn’t. Caleb had the power, but maybe not the ability.

“What is over here?” Sarnai asked.

Lakshmi glanced at the phone in Sarnai’s hand, and then said, “That used to be the back end of Caster’s Alley. It’s gone now.”

Sarnai had found some older maps of Magic Realm, when the Realm was much larger, in hopes of locating the All. Damian stood off to one side, watching the lights and stars in the sky. They weren’t _really_ stars, he thought. Just looked like them.

One more mote…

His energy suddenly spiked, and Damian immediately turned around, unleashing a great roar along with a burst of magic, but he aimed at Lakshmi. She wasn’t expecting it, yelped, and slid across the island and right off its edge. Damian didn’t waste any time, turning to face Sarnai and loosing another burst of magic.

Sarnai immediately twisted out of the way, reaching out and aiming a punch at his throat. It hit a magical barrier, and Damian moved one arm and sent electricity out from it. Sarnai burst into shadow, reappearing behind him and firing off a mental shock wave, only for Damian to immediately teleportalate across the island they were on.

They were almost evenly matched. Bursts of shadow, psychic energy, and golden light traded rapid punches in the small space. He didn’t think for a second he was winning, but he hoped beyond hope. All along, he’d only hoped to get close enough for this, but it was all for nothing, he’d hurt Morgyn and Cassandra for _nothing_ , if he failed anyway.

All it took was one slip up. He thought he had a grip on where she was going, as she burst into shadow, and he aimed where he thought she’d appear. She did, for a moment, and then burst into shadow again immediately after, reappearing to his immediate right.

He had just long enough to catch sight of her out of his peripheral vision, and then a searing, blinding pain shot through his skull, and the force of the shock wave threw him across the cobblestone.

 _I’m sorry, Cassie_ …

Sarnai straightened up. Moments later, Lakshmi materialised beside her.

“Well that was right _rude_ ,” Lakshmi said, dusting her dress off. She then noticed Damian across the island. Sarnai looked annoyed. “Did he turn on you too?” she asked.

“Yes,” Sarnai answered. “He is more cunning than we expected, but no matter. He won’t be doing anything anytime soon.”

“Are you okay?” Lakshmi asked, concern in her tone. Sarnai was grating and occasionally more violent than Lakshmi would’ve liked, but she _was_ still her sister.

“We are fine,” Sarnai answered, breathing in deeply and levitating as the dark energy swirled around her. “Are you?”

That was strange. Lakshmi couldn’t remember off-hand the last time Sarnai had shown concern for her. “I am,” she said. “I’m sorry, I didn’t see that coming.”

“We did,” Sarnai answered. “We were not sure if he had enough backbone for it, though. His own fear stood in his way. Remember that, Lakshmi. Only your own fear can ever truly hold you back.”

“Morgyn.”

Ah, that was so calming. For some reason, the sound of whoever that was relaxed all the tension instantly, and Morgyn could’ve listened to them talk forever. But something seemed off.

“Morgyn… I don’t have long.”

Who was that? Their voice was relaxing and somehow made Morgyn’s heart hurt at the same time. Morgyn shifted, and then opened one eye. Where was Caleb?

“He can’t be here,” the voice said.

Morgyn turned toward the edge of the bed, finding Damian. “Damian, when did you get home?!”

“I’m not,” Damian said, looking sad. “I just came to warn you. We’re the same soul, you know. We can talk sometimes, even when we’re far apart.”

“Damian, I can see the…” blinds… through him… “No,” Morgyn whispered. “No, no, _not you_ , no, _please_ -“

“Morgyn stop,” Damian said. “I know this isn’t easy, but I need to warn you. Sarnai cares more than she shows, and if you’re willing to play dirty, you can use it to your advantage. Even things we aren’t weak to can be dangerous at high concentrations. You _have_ to stop her.”

A pained squeal loosed from Morgyn’s throat.

“You can,” Damian said. “I believe in you, Morgyn. More than anyone, or anything, and if either of us can do it, I’ve always believed it was -“

“Stop,” Morgyn said, “stop, stop, why you, why did it have to be you… _I’m the one that leaves_!”

Damian closed his eyes. “I’ve always believed it was you.”

“He told me,” Morgyn whispered. “Caleb did, he told me about him, about Jean, what he did to you, I can’t – I can’t ever – why did I get the life you deserved?”

“That’s not how this works,” Damian said, grey eyes steeling. “I know right now it hurts so much you can’t breathe and it feels like nothing will ever be right again, but that’ll only be true if you refuse to stand up. Falling down is an accident, Morgyn. Staying down is a choice.”

Morgyn started to ask something, and then jerked suddenly, bolt upright in bed, the sunlight streaming in the windows, Caleb breathing on the other side of the bed. Morgyn breathed hard, almost gasping for air, and then the pain came back.

“Damian…”

Caleb didn’t ask, just held his arms out. Morgyn didn’t tell, just fell into him and got lost in the hurt.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> About half of this is inexplicably in first person because Morgyn started talking and didn't shut up.

_Nobody said any of this was going to be easy. Being honest, though, I didn’t expect it to be this hard, either. It’s been three months since Damian went away. And in that time I’ve gotten not a single inch closer to stopping Sarnai._

_I’ve spent most of my life pretending I didn’t have a brother, because it was easier than remembering what, and who, I used to be. That person’s supposed to be gone, and it was easier than I’d envisioned, and somehow harder all the same, to let them go. My unwillingness to remember where I’ve been cost me everyone I knew and loved. At the time, it seemed smarter. If you didn’t want to be Rosalie de Lorraine anymore, what else was there but running away from it all and making a new start as someone else?_

_The thing I never got, I guess, was that it was hard to be anyone but you, and even if you spent all your life running, things caught up eventually. The truth is, I was running from myself, and that’s the one thing you can never escape._

_I can’t tell you what I thought back then. I can’t even remember thinking of Damian too much, because it inevitably hurt, and reminded me of things I’d rather have forgotten. Damian was the only link to France that was left, and I’d only just found him some few years ago._

_I wish I’d stayed. If I had… things would’ve turned out much differently, that was sure. I’d probably have about a dozen kids I didn’t want with a guy I didn’t love, and there’d be someone else acting as Sage of Untamed Magic. But Damian would still be here._

_Damian was the better of us. Damian didn’t run away when things got hard, he ran toward it. I’d spent my whole life trying to figure out how to face my problems head-on. Mostly I pretended they weren’t there._

_Cassandra told me that if it wasn’t for the choices that I’d made at France, she and Damian wouldn’t have ever met, and some part of me wants to believe that, but more of me thinks I wouldn’t have much effect on their relationship with one another._

_Cassandra and Damian were meant to be. I thought that from the first time I saw them with one another. Damian slowed down, Cassandra sped up, until they matched one another perfectly and fell into sync with one another. Caleb and I… we still had moments where we moved at different speeds, and that was just how it was. Maybe that’d change someday. Maybe it’d always be that way._

_As much as I hated to admit it, Damian was right. I didn’t have the time or the leisure to be upset. What was death when you were a spellcaster, anyway? So what if he was gone? It just meant I had to push harder to get to Sarnai before it was too late and he’d been gone too long for me to save him. I think some part of Cassandra knew he was gone too. I could see it in her eyes, but surprisingly, I also found great strength there, a determination I wasn’t used to seeing in her usually placid gaze. She was at the cauldron a lot more than usual now, like she was looking for something._

_If things had been different, I could’ve fallen madly in love with her, and I understood what Damian saw in her._

_It was a matter of taking it a problem at a time. And the rest of this mess could be dealt with later. My guilt had waited 300 years by now, it could wait another however long it took to bring Damian, or whatever was left of him, home. Was I Morgyn Ember, or was I bloody Morgyn Ember?_

_Well, maybe that’d be Morgyn Vatore. I liked the sound of that better anyway. I wasn’t the same person I’d been when I’d chosen the name Morgyn Ember, and maybe it was a good thing I wasn’t. (The entirety of the stage I was 100 something seemed to be rebellious teenager phase.)_

_Damian had come back in dreams here and there since the first time. The visits were always stunted, like he was and was not a ghost, and I didn’t know what to make of it. Maybe Sarnai did something. Maybe the vortex did it. Maybe that wasn’t Damian at all, but a projection of what Sarnai wanted me to **believe** was Damian._

_I needed to think. It’d been so long since I’d **felt** anything, that when I finally did, it’d consumed everything, like a fire rushing through my veins that I couldn’t control. Caleb made me feel things like that, too. Sometimes what I felt for him was so strong it threatened to make me cry. I’ve never cried so much in my **life** , and I think I’m a little embarrassed by it. I’m used to not having feelings. Used to being that infallible god of a Sage that I used to be, but that Morgyn’s gone now too._

_Like I said, I’m not the same person that chose the name Morgyn Ember._

_Usually, I’m glad for that. Once in a while, like now, I couldn’t help but wish that I could go back to being that young and innocent. I wasn’t sure if I could consider myself a better me, or not. Mostly, I felt the same, and when I look back, I just feel lost. Maybe everyone feels the same way at some point or another._

_Damian needed me. And he was right. Nothing was going to change if I sat down and said I was done. Somewhere amid Caleb holding me and murmuring meaningless nothings the morning after I first saw Damian in a dream, I thought, I don’t have time for this. I could blubber like a mad person later._

_It was time, wasn’t it? Time for me to pay Damian back for everything he’d ever done for me._

Offhand, it was hard to say where Caleb was. Probably downstairs playing some odd video game or another, and it was likely in his pyjamas because the boy had no sense. Most of the time, it was fine. The boy had no sense, but he was _Morgyn’s_ boy, and that made up for it. (The girls might think differently.)

_Girl, you know I want your love, your love was handmade for somebody like me, come on now follow my lead, I may be crazy don’t mind me…_

One moment Morgyn was listening to random songs on Cassandra’s music player, and the next had gotten caught up in the rhythm. Morgyn wasn’t much of a dancer, at least not anymore, but it was nice to get lost in something that didn’t _hurt_ for once.

So lost in it was Morgyn that Caleb’s entrance went unnoticed. Caleb almost asked where his phone was, but then got distracted watching Morgyn move around in the small space. Most talked about how vampires had impressive muscle control and moved like predators. Sages, or at least this one, apparently moved like gods.

He came up behind Morgyn, one hand moving up Morgyn’s arm. A quiet gasp sounded, but Morgyn rolled with it, shifting backward into Caleb, and soon enough they were moving together.

They never broke contact. Morgyn went around him until they were back to back. Caleb turned around, leaning over Morgyn’s shoulder, and ran a hand up Morgyn’s leg, earning one of those quiet pleased hisses Morgyn loosed from time to time. The sound always made Caleb’s heart leap into his throat.

“You seem in a better mood,” Caleb said quietly.

“Yeah,” Morgyn answered. “The more time I spend freaking out, the less time I have to fix it.”

Caleb made a noise of approval. “That’s a better way of looking at it. Just don’t pretend it’s not there.”

“I’m not,” Morgyn said. “I just think I’ve been upset enough over it for now. It’s time to get things done, instead.”

Caleb smiled, leaning over to nuzzle his nose into Morgyn’s neck. “I’ll be right beside you the whole way.”

Any moment now, she was supposed to turn back into a vampire. Vaguely, she remembered the discomfort this had been the first time, and mostly she was amused by her past self’s inability to tolerate it very well. It barely bothered her, but then, she was using kickboxing as a distraction this time around. If she remembered rightly, mostly she’d just complained the last time.

Of course, the first place she intended to go was Straud Manor. She hadn’t mentioned this to the others, because it could go very well, or it could go quite badly. It was a toss-up as to which one it’d be. It wasn’t like Lilith was _afraid_ of Vladislaus, though Caleb might’ve been. Nor was she terribly afraid of Sarnai.

She _dared_ Sarnai to be around her when she had her vampire powers back. Lilith would _love_ to mess up her day.

Miss Hell hadn’t been in contact again, but nobody seemed to miss her. It was just as well, and probably for the best, considering discussing anything with her was more dangerous than anything. Miss Hell may not like Sarnai, but she could easily have been using their alliance to gain favour with Vladislaus.

That’d crossed her mind once or twice, sure. Well, no matter. It was almost time, she could feel it. Just a little longer and she could go back to the Hollow not reeking of alive anymore. She’d miss being human though; ah, moral quandaries.

Immense dark power, or being able to eat food? Decisions.

“Are you feeling okay?” Cassandra asked, arching an eyebrow at Morgyn.

“Fine,” Morgyn answered. “Better than I have been, for sure. Are you?”

Cassandra sighed slightly. “Yeah,” she said. “I’m getting by at least.” She intended to drop by her parents’ house in a few days after classes, to see Esme and check up on her parents and Alexander. She hadn’t so far only because the depression had set in pretty hard.

“What’re you working on at the cauldron all the time?” Morgyn asked.

Cassandra hadn’t been aware anyone noticed that. “I don’t know,” Cassandra said. “It’s calming, mostly. And maybe I’ll stumble into something useful along the way.”

“You seemed like you were looking for something specific,” Morgyn said.

“Not exactly,” Cassandra said. “It just feels like I need to be working on my potion-making skills. It’s hard to explain.”

“Maybe it’s the All guiding you,” Morgyn said. “Sometimes it does.”

“I’ll hope. We could use a miracle in a bottle about now.”

“No one’s heard from Miss Hell, right?” Lilith asked.

“Nope,” Cassandra answered.

“No,” Morgyn said.

“Me either,” Caleb added. “Seems kind of weird because she’s usually pushier than this.”

“Unless she already got what she wanted somehow,” Lilith said.

“Yeah, but like what?” Cassandra asked. “You didn’t really give her anything to work with, and none of us did either.”

“Miss Hell’s usually smarter than that,” Lilith said. “She could’ve gotten the weirdest information out of the most basic conversations.”

Morgyn snorted softly. “Mostly, she’s aware I’m an emotional wreck.”

“You are not,” Cassandra said.

“Do you hear that?” Lilith asked.

“Hear what?” Caleb asked.

Lilith didn’t answer, standing up and following the sound. It was odd she could hear it and they couldn’t, but then her sense of hearing was probably getting better thanks to being mid-vampirification. She followed it straight to the hall closet where the coat Caleb was wearing the night they’d come across Miss Hell asking them for help happened to be.

“Oh look,” she said, pulling a small metal piece off the coat. “Looks like somebody bugged us.”

Cassandra frowned. “Clearly she didn’t trust us either.”

Lilith snorted, throwing it against the wall. It immediately busted, the metal twisting into a weird shape and glass raining onto the floor. The beeping stopped.

For a moment, Lilith wasn’t sure what she was doing awake. She looked at the clock to one side of her bed. The face read 12:34. That was so early to be awake, and she’d regret it if she didn’t go back to sleep, but then her stomach lurched and she realised what she was awake for.

 _Finally_ , the long wait was over. She knew it took time, but it was still annoying a process to wait through. The first time, she hadn’t had anything to be so anxious over. It wasn’t like she really had any idea what was going on. This time, she couldn’t wait until it was over.

She had about a thousand things to do as soon as she could turn into a bat again.

For a moment, it hurt, the searing fire in her veins she remembered as being extremely unpleasant the first time, but this time it was more like a long lost friend. Her eyes flashed red, and suddenly she could hear better, smell better… ugh, and there was the annoying feeling of wanting something to drink but not wanting water.

She recognised the want as plasma, but only because she’d been a vampire for a long time before. Much like she would’ve with a vampire master, she could sense Morgyn in a similar way. It was distant, but she could feel the pain. It was fine. It wasn’t crippling or distracting, and it’d stop soon enough.

But first…

Wandering around in Forgotten Hollow was in order, because there were plasma fruit trees in the Hollow, and she’d never found some anywhere else. It was probably dangerous to be this close to Straud Manor right now, when she was still re-acclimating to being a vampire, but Lilith didn’t care very much. She _wanted_ Vladislaus to come out here.

Messing up _his_ day would be a pleasure, too.

She wandered behind the house that now stood on Garliclauter Place. If Miss Hell was to be believed, she’d implied Sarnai lived there now. The lights weren’t on. Lilith took a breath in, but found that while she could scent Sarnai, it was a distant kind of scent, like she’d been there before but not recently. What she smelled stronger was a cat, someone that smelled male, and the slight spicy tang she recognised as Lakshmi.

Lilith got a little closer to Straud Manor. Sarnai had been here recently, but wasn’t here right now, she could scent that too. Good. Her plans might yet pay off.

This time, while wandering around Forgotten Hollow as often Lilith did now, she caught the scent of alive. Interestingly, it smelled familiar, too. Like she knew the person it belonged to. It was hard to say from this distance who it was.

Instead of thinking about it too hard, as she knew this place was dangerous to living Sims, Lilith headed towards it, following her nose to the Sim the scent was coming from. Just outside Straud Manor, Lilith found a blond girl, lying in the grass.

“Summer?” Lilith said, tilting her head. “Oh no, Summer!” Immediately, Lilith ran over, pulling Summer off the grass and shaking her slightly. “Summer, come on, wake up.”

Summer grunted. Thank Watcher. Lilith knew she wasn’t dead, but vampire powers were not exactly _kind_ …

“Lilith?” Summer asked, confused. “Wait, where are we?”

“Forgotten Hollow,” Lilith answered, standing up, and holding a hand out for Summer. The blonde gratefully took the offered hand, and pulled herself up.

“Oh… I only came for a jog,” Summer said.

“Here’s not a good place for that,” Lilith replied. “Especially not at night. Did you come across a very pale, white-haired man? Crooked nose, too much chin, looks like he’s a bag of bones under his suit?”

Summer arched an eyebrow. “Uh, yeah?” she said. “Why?”

“No reason.” If Summer didn’t know, it was probably best. “Go home, okay? And don’t come back here.”

Summer looked concerned, but nodded. “Okay.” She turned to leave, but then paused, and turned back around. “Thanks, by the way. I don’t know if I’d have woken up on my own anytime soon.”

Lilith didn’t answer, just smiled at her, and let her go. As soon as Summer was halfway down the hill outside the Straud manor, Lilith focused her powers.

“ _Come to me,_ ” Lilith thought. “ _Come and get it._ “

Getting into a fight with Vladislaus was _precisely_ what she was supposed to be avoiding. Quickly, she turned into a bat, meeting Vlad at a different part of the cemetery around the manor.

“I thought you’d run off to join the spellcasters,” Vladislaus said.

“Nice to see you too, _master_ ,” Lilith venomously spat. “I see you’re still up to your usual tricks.”

“Why, it’s not my fault when poor hapless travellers wander up the hill,” Vladislaus said. “You’re not still on about your _asking permission_ ordeal, are you?”

“Enough talking,” Lilith snarled.

Unlike the young vampire she used to be before, this Lilith really _wasn’t_ afraid of him. Once, she’d been. She remembered that time, but it was hard to relate to that Lilith anymore. So much had changed since then, and she had reasons not to win. Plural. And Vladislaus was a problem anyway. Maybe if she cut off the head of the snake, Sarnai would give up. She had no direction without a commander.

She wasted no time, and launched right at him.

The battle was fierce. But the many hours training for this day had paid off, and Vladislaus was lucky if he could scoot to one side of her punches. She remembered every time she and Caleb had lost to him.

It was satisfying to be the one that came out on top this time.

“You don’t know what you’ve started,” Vladislaus hissed.

“Am I the one that doesn’t know?” Lilith asked. “Or are you?”

Vladislaus looked greatly annoyed for a moment, and then arched an eyebrow. “I am not your master anymore,” he said. “Who is?”

“A very beautiful blond,” Lilith answered. “We won’t meet again.”

Lilith turned and walked toward the entry. As she walked, one hand flicked at the air. A cracking noise sounded, and then a great unearthly shriek. She could smell the smoke and flames as, behind her, Vladislaus burned away.

It turned out, tree branches made decent stakes.


	17. Chapter 17

“So what are these, exactly?” Cassandra asked, studying the new saplings in the lower floor.

“They’re plasma fruit trees,” Lilith answered. “A particular tree that produces fruit with similar qualities to Sim plasma. This way, I won’t need to drink Sim sourced plasma as often.”

“Oh,” Cassandra answered. And then her nose wrinkled. “I’m almost sorry I asked.”

Lilith laughed. “Yeah, you get that feeling sometimes with vampiric stuff.”

Cassandra smiled softly. “Damian would _love_ to see these. He’s always interested in science things like this. Figuring out how these work would be a great challenge to him.”

There wasn’t as much sadness in Cassandra’s tone, this time. Still, Lilith could hear the pain in her voice. Maybe one never got over things like this. Lilith looked sad, for a moment, reaching over and resting her hand on Cassandra’s arm for a moment.

“He can see them when they’re full-grown,” she said.

Cassandra took a breath in. “Yeah.” The more it was said, though, the less Cassandra believed it.

“No no, put a little more oomph into it,” Bella said, watching Cassandra and Caleb practise their magic in the back yard. Bella wasn’t an offensive caster; that was Mortimer. But she _had_ duelled a high number of offensive casters and was relatively familiar with how it _should_ work.

“If I put any more oomph into it, Mrs. Goth,” Caleb said, “I’m gonna blow out your back windows.”

Bella giggled. “Oh please,” she said. “Blow the back windows out, it wouldn’t be the first time.”

Caleb arched an eyebrow.

Cassandra coughed and said, “Repairio.”

“Oh.” Caleb sighed. “You know, no matter how many times I watch Morgyn cast that on the dishwasher and the computers, it still surprises me every time that it’s a thing.”

“You get used to it,” Bella said. “Now come on, blow out the back windows! Won’t learn anything if you don’t break a thing or two!”

“Mama, I come home?” Esmeralda asked, gazing up at Cassandra.

The older woman sighed and shook her head. “Not yet, Esme.”

“But why?” Esme asked. “I wanna go home!”

“Well,” Cassandra started, kneeling down to be closer to Esmeralda’s height, “daddy had to go away. And mama’s always busy with schoolwork. It’s really boring now, and we can’t watch you so well.”

“It’s boring _here_.”

Cassandra snorted. “I know kiddo,” she said. “But it’ll be okay. It won’t be forever, and you’ll come home soon enough. It’ll go by in a blur.”

“Okay…” Esme said. “Hug?” she asked, holding her arms up.

Cassandra smiled, moving over and hugging her daughter. Esme was all she had left of Damian, now. Though Cassandra didn’t want to think about it, she knew there was the very real chance Damian wouldn’t ever come home. She’d worry about explaining that to Esmeralda when she had to, and not before.

“Hey, Morgyn,” Devante greeted.

Morgyn offered a small smile, though it was notably strained. “Hey,” came the short answer. “How’s life treating you?”

“Alright,” Devante answered. “Magic’s on the fritz like it is for everyone. And Magic Realm’s kind of a mess without you and the other Sages around.”

“L.’s gone now too?” Morgyn asked.

“Yeah,” Devante answered. “Cheyanne doesn’t know the details but she was there one day and then wasn’t.”

“Cheyanne’s not spending too much time out in Magic Realm, is she?” Morgyn asked.

“Way too much if you ask me,” Devante replied. “You know her. She’s out there protecting everyone else, trying to shield the familiars, too… I’m scared Morgyn. I can’t lose her.”

Morgyn smiled sadly, holding onto Devante’s sleeve for a moment. “Cheyanne’s stronger than that,” Morgyn said. “And _smarter_. Trust she knows when to back out.”

“I would if she had a habit _of_ backing out,” Devante said, grumbling. “Please tell me you have a plan.”

Morgyn frowned. “Not really. I’m kind of flying blind here.”

“I understand that your copy’s running the show now,” Devante said. “Kind of like a king in all but name. _Something_ , and I guess it’s the vampire that hangs around your copy these days, is brainwashing the other spellcasters into thinking nothing’s wrong. They’re ripping apart the islands, too, drilling into the rock and everything.”

That was worse than Morgyn had been afraid of. Well, not all of the magical tomes were in Magic Realm. Some of them were with Morgyn, and maybe Simeon had a few. “You keep me posted okay?” Morgyn asked.

“Sure,” Devante said. “And please try telling Cheyanne not to do anything stupid.”

Honestly, someone needed to define stupid, because Morgyn might be doing stupid here soon, too, and Morgyn was a lot of things. Usually hypocrite wasn’t on the list, and Morgyn would like to keep it that way.

“Oh, Dion,” Lilith said, having come out to check the mail.

“Hey Lilith,” Dion greeted.

“Dion, hey!” Caleb said, peeking out the door.

“What brings you this way? And during the _day_ no less?” Lilith asked.

“Well,” Dion said, “I got a question for you. Did you happen to… I don’t know… _murder_ Vladislaus?”

Lilith snorted. “I might have, yes.”

“ _Lilith_!” Caleb exclaimed.

“What?” Lilith answered. “He _bit Summer_! So I killed him.”

Caleb arched an eyebrow. “That’s a bit _drastic_ , don’t you think?”

“No,” Lilith stubbornly replied. “… kind of. … well it’s too dang late for that now, isn’t it?”

Caleb sighed.

Dion shook his head. “Do you have any idea whatcha done just did to the sociopolitical environment of Forgotten Hollow? Ain’t nothin’ good goin’ on out there, girl.”

Lilith frowned. “I figured someone else would step up to fill the gap.”

“Oh _sure_ , somebody did,” Dion said. “Miss Hell, that is.”

Lilith and Caleb exchanged glances.

“You can destroy her, we all know it,” Dion said. ” You’re the strongest of us after Sarnai and Vladislaus. And maybe you should, because if somebody doesn’t put her in her place, she’s gon’ make Forgotten Hollow more dangerous’n Vladislaus did, and your Summer ain’t gon’ be the last casualty.”

Lilith sighed.

“You know the rules anyway,” Dion went on. “You keep what you kill.”

Where was that Watcher-forsaken – Sarnai had no idea _what_ this duplicate was up to, but she was very well aware this was ostensibly the wrong Morgyn. The right one, mind, would be more dangerous to deal with than Sarnai felt like tolerating, that was all.

Of course, leaving the real one loose would eventually be a problem, but she’d found what she was looking for, all the same.

What was interesting to her was, she hadn’t mind-controlled the copy. Said copy had turned against the original Morgyn without her interference, and she wasn’t sure if this was a good or a bad thing. Thus far, though, the duplicate was doing what she asked, and she couldn’t scent any magic being passed from him, either, mostly ruling out the copy still being in contact with the original.

Ah, there he was. “Come,” Sarnai barked, stopping a short distance away. She found the Embers displeasing to look at, and wasn’t very fond of being up close and personal with them, either.

“What now?” the copy asked.

“We finally have work for you.” She held her hand out. “We must go in mist.”

“What is this?” the duplicate asked.

“The All,” Lakshmi said from one side of it. She’d stayed behind to watch it, and the more time she spent around it, the less she thought her sister should be messing with it. There was _so much power_ running through it, but then, Sarnai wouldn’t listen to her, anyway. Why bother?

“You’ve found it?” the copy asked. “How?”

“Following the ley lines,” Sarnai answered. “We cannot get closer than this. Break its defences.”

“I don’t know if I can,” the duplicate replied. “Perhaps even a single Sage couldn’t on their own.”

“Try anyway,” Sarnai replied smoothly, moving out of the way. “Or are copies really so inferior?”

For a moment, the duplicate looked annoyed, and then backed away slightly, magic pooling at both hands. A flicker of what looked like worry crossed the duplicate’s face. One hand waved and threw the magic at the crystals. The crystals began to glow a brilliant fuchsia hue, and release a strange humming sound loud and intense enough to cause headaches.

And then all at once, the crystals flashed white, and fired back a burst of silver light. The duplicate shrieked loudly as the sudden impact threw them across the space. They bounced slightly, slamming into the opposite wall. A groan loosed as they sat up, and then they burst into white-hot flames that spread in seconds.

The magical flames took mere moments to spread everywhere. Lakshmi moved closer to _do_ something, but the second the flames had spread, they suddenly imploded with enough force to throw Lakshmi and Sarnai backward into the wall behind them. Sarnai’s nose wrinkled, as the charred husk of the duplicate broke apart into magical lights.

“… that didn’t go so well,” Lakshmi said. “What now?”

Sarnai smiled. “No matter. We have backups.”

She had a headache.

Bachelors were prone to such things as headaches. Most of them had an innate clairvoyance and often, mediumship, that often went untapped nowadays. Cassandra had never bothered training hers, though she thought her mother had, and tended to have headaches from being unable to properly process certain things. It made things difficult from time to time, but it was what it was, and Cassandra had never thought to complain about it.

She’d gone for a drink of water, and when she came back, just barely, she could make out a purplish _something_ standing by the bed. It took several moments of watching it before she figured out what it was.

“Damian?” She was afraid to ask. She was afraid not to.

“Yeah,” a muffled voice answered; it sounded like Damian, if she was hearing his voice underwater. “Cassandra I -“

“You’re gone, aren’t you?” she asked.

“Yes,” Damian answered. “No. I don’t know.” He loosed a sigh. “It’s hard to explain and we don’t have time for it. Did Morgyn tell you what I said, a few nights ago?”

For a moment, Cassandra was upset Damian would talk to Morgyn first. But then, they were siblings, twins even. Maybe she’d never be able to top that one. Maybe she didn’t want to. She was the one that pushed them together, after all. (And look what it got her? She was barely thirty and a widow already.)

(It wasn’t Morgyn’s fault. Morgyn was just easier to blame.)

“No,” Cassandra answered. “I didn’t know you two had spoken at all recently.”

“Yeah,” Damian said. “I’m sorry, Morgyn’s just easier to contact. I can astral project into Morgyn’s dreams, it’s not as easy with you. But you can see me now. It’s a start.”

Cassandra nodded mutely.

“Hey,” Damian said, leaning over to catch her gaze. “You’re still my forever girl, you know. The first one to ever really love me and stay.”

Cassandra smiled sadly. “What’d you say to Morgyn?”

Damian drew a breath in. He supposed that was more important. “Sarnai cares more than she shows, and even things that aren’t dangerous can become so at high concentrations.”

Cassandra frowned. What? Obviously she knew what he’d said, but the words didn’t entirely make sense to her. Maybe it wasn’t supposed to make sense right away, but if he’d been trying to tell her this for a while, then presumably it was important.

“I don’t -” she started.

Damian glanced behind him. “I gotta go,” he said, turning back to her. “I love -“

“Wait,” Cassandra said breathlessly. “Please, don’t, not yet.”

“I have to,” Damian said. “I’m sorry.”

“No, I shouldn’t… I just…” She went quiet, blinking back tears. It didn’t matter.

Damian smiled sadly, glancing behind him again, and then stepped closer. He couldn’t _quite_ touch her like this, but he could get very close. One hand wrapped around hers, hovering a bit away from her skin. “I miss you too,” he said, very quietly.

“What did you mean?” she asked, barely a whisper. “You are and are not gone?”

“I don’t know,” Damian answered. “Sometimes I’m here. Sometimes I’m there. I’ve never been dead before, I don’t know what it feels like, but sometimes I can feel my own heartbeat. Sometimes I can’t. Sometimes I feel pain. Sometimes I don’t.”

What did that even mean? He just said he didn’t know what that meant. Cassandra loosed a sigh, closing her eyes for a moment.

“Death is nothing to magic,” Damian said. “Even if I am dead, you can bring me back. I know it.”

“I don’t know how,” Cassandra answered.

“You’ll figure it out,” he whispered, leaning closer. She could _almost_ feel his lips brush against hers, and then he was gone, and the silence was deafening.

It was a nice day for a jog. Ever since waking up to Lilith shaking her in Forgotten Hollow, she’d had this weird headache, a bad feeling she couldn’t seem to shake. Travis and Liberty were the same as always, so Summer just ignored it and went on with her life.

She spent her days outside of work jogging around Magnolia Blossom park, meeting the locals. Every day there were new people to meet and greet, and that was Summer’s favourite thing, meeting new people. So many of them were from interesting places, like San Myshuno, and Sulani. Summer had never been to San Myshuno or Sulani, but they sounded like a lot of fun.

Come to think of it, didn’t Lilith live in San Myshuno? Maybe she could get her to show her around. It was always nicer to be shown around somewhere by someone that’d lived there a while.

Things were looking up, really. She just needed this headache, and this weird feeling of being hungry, to go away.


	18. Chapter 18

Outside the door was, guess who, Summer. Lilith had a feeling Summer would be by eventually. Vladislaus generally didn’t just _bite_ people. He liked to turn them, too, and it was a process that could be, in a word, concerning if you had no idea what you were dealing with.

Lilith mulled over the different ways of telling Summer what was going on without making herself sound like a crazy person, but there weren’t many. Eh. She’d figure it out. Instead, she opened the door and stepped outside. “Hey, nice to see you,” she said.

“Nice to see you too,” Summer answered. “I had um. A weird question for you, since you seemed to be familiar with Forgotten Hollow, and that weird guy.”

Yep. Lilith took a breath in. She was about a third of the way through the transformation process, if Lilith’s nose was any judge. “What about it?” Lilith asked.

“Is there like a weird disease over there or something?” Summer asked. “Because I’m starting to get sick from everything I eat, and it’s never enough anymore.”

Lilith’s lips quirked up at one side. “Or something,” she said. “Do you believe in vampires?”

“What, like, Dracula?” Summer asked.

“The very same,” Lilith replied.

Summer laughed. “No, I can’t say I put much stock into fairy tales. Why?”

Oh boy. “Ah… well you may want to rethink that, is all,” Lilith replied.

“Wait,” Summer started, “you’re not implying what it sounds like you’re implying, are you? That old guy was a vampire?”

“And you’re turning into one,” Lilith finished. Summer’s expression flattened and she physically recoiled. “I know,” Lilith said, “I know it’s a lot. Most Sims don’t take it very well, I get it. I’m a vampire too, you know.”

“What?” Summer asked.

Lilith smiled slightly, showing her fangs.

Summer backed up another step. “No,” she said. “No these sorts of things happen in, in terrible B movies and and and on badly scripted tween television shows, not in real life, this isn’t happening -“

“Summer, I’m -“

“No, no, I trusted you,” Summer interrupted. “I _trusted_ you, why would you say something like that?”

Unfortunately, there was only one thing to do here. Lilith couldn’t _make_ Summer believe her. She had to learn it on her own, unfortunately the hard way. Summer looked at her in disappointment and fear, and turned and headed into the elevator.

As the doors closed, Lilith released a sigh. Well. _That_ went swimmingly.

“Don’t tell me,” Lilith said, sighing. “You’re going to tell me I’ve lost my marbles, too?”

Kane gave Lilith a look, somewhere between befuddlement and concern. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Lilith answered. Summer would eventually come around. Either because she snapped and fed on some poor hapless Sim and what other creature feeds on Sim plasma, or because the sun started killing her. And for her sake, Lilith hoped she figured out it was the _sunlight_ that was a problem before it was too late. “What’re you here for? It’s weird to see you and not Dion.”

Kane nodded. “Yeah, I know,” he said. “But I’m alive, and I can move around in the daylight easier.”

“This is true,” Lilith replied.

“Anyway, Dion’s been keeping an eye on Forgotten Hollow for you,” Kane said. “Miss Hell’s set up shop out there, moved into Straud Manor and is calling herself Queen now. I didn’t think Forgotten Hollow _had_ a monarch, but I suppose in a town that small, mayor, king, whatever, right?”

Lilith snorted. “Something like that,” she answered. “So Miss Hell’s taking over?”

“More or less,” Kane replied. “Passing movements about how anything alive that wanders through the Hollow is fair game, something about hunting parties.”

Lilith’s gaze narrowed.

“I hate it when you glare,” Kane grumbled.

“Sorry,” Lilith said, her gaze softening slightly. “I’ll deal with her later tonight.”

“I’m sorry you have to,” Kane said.

“No,” Lilith replied. “I should’ve expected as much.” It wasn’t like _Sarnai_ was liable to take control of it. And even if she did, that’d be worse than Miss Hell doing it.

Potions were about the strangest bit of magic Cassandra had ever messed with. Though she’d spent the last several days trying to figure out _something_ with them, she still wasn’t sure what it was she was looking for. Maybe the truth was she was just hoping her mother’s side of the family would suddenly kick in, and she’d be able to make some _sense_ of all this.

It was hard to lose everything at once. Sending Esme to her parents was probably smart, overall, but also kind of stupid, because Esme was all she had left of Damian, and had been a good reason for her to get up in the morning and _try_. And now she just had to tell herself, over and over and over in her head, that she _could_ bring him home.

He said death meant nothing to magic. Maybe somewhere in all the herbs and stirring, she’d figure out how to bring him back if he _was_ dead. Truthfully, though, he didn’t _seem_ dead. At least, not to her. Once they had a ghost hanging around in their house, when she was still a teenager, and her mother had talked to him for a while, and then he was gone. That was the extent of Cassandra’s knowledge of ghosts and how they worked.

Maybe she just didn’t _want_ him to be dead. Morgyn probably knew how to – but Cassandra had no intention of asking Morgyn just yet. After a while, you got tired of depending on others all the time. Cassandra was well past that point. Add in a little no one else seemed to know how to get anything done, and here she was.

Sometimes, Damian just watched her. She could see him occasionally, but most of the time, she couldn’t. He didn’t know if that was her own grief blocking him out, or if the connection to the physical plane was weaker. It was hard to tell. Damian didn’t even know how he was here at all. He knew he was astral projecting into Morgyn’s dreams; there was a bonus to being someone’s twin, sometimes. But aside from the very strong love he still had for Cassandra, he didn’t know what was drawing and anchoring him to her.

Morgyn was too literal and headstrong. Cassandra had a knack for the subtle and the quiet; Morgyn was anything _but_ subtle and quiet. That was why Damian had told them both. They thought in very different ways, and if they both put their minds to the same problem, they’d probably come up with brilliance.

If anyone could do it, Damian always knew it was them. Cassandra could save him, and Morgyn could stop Sarnai. The tricky part was getting _them_ to believe that. Wasn’t that funny? _He_ was supposed to be the anxious one, and yet somehow, like this, he had a sense of clarity he hadn’t before.

Once, they called him the Astral Spectre. Damian was always good at astral travel, and had learnt it as a child, showing, very early on, a strength in the art. He might’ve used it back then to stir up mischief, but as he got older, it became an instinctive, and powerful, tool. Truly, whether his body lived or not, he couldn’t imagine there’d be a time he _couldn’t_ control his projections.

Was that what he was doing? Was he just projecting? A sudden jolt went through him, and he blinked, and Cassandra was gone.

And he _hurt_.

A groan escaped. It felt like he hadn’t slept in _months_ , if one could imagine what that would feel like. One grey eye opened, then the other. Candles were lit along the walls, thorny vines crawling up the brick walls, metal flooring… wait, he was floating in … what even _was_ this?

It didn’t look like anywhere he’d ever seen before, but just barely, he could sense a strong pulse of magic. So he was somewhere in the Magic Realm, he just wasn’t sure off-hand _where_.

Slowly, Damian stretched out, looking around. He heard a burst of something behind him, and turned to find Sarnai.

“Well,” Sarnai said. “We weren’t expecting you to ever wake up on your own. But you’ve surprised us repeatedly already, why not with this too?”

Damian squinted at her. “What’d you do to me?” he asked. His limbs still felt like Jello and maybe they would for a while yet.

“We shut your consciousness down,” Sarnai replied, as if that wasn’t an abnormal thing to do to someone. “It was _supposed_ to be suppressed, at least. You wiggled it loose on your own somehow. How did you do that?”

Damian’s gaze turned to the floor. “I don’t really know.” And it was the truth. He really didn’t know. Presumably, it had something to do with astral projecting.

“Well, no matter,” Sarnai replied, her weight shifting and one hand resting on her hip. “We have a job for you, so you’re just in time.”

“I have no intention of doing anything you say,” Damian said, almost a snarl for someone that still felt like a bowl of Jello.

“We weren’t _asking_ ,” Sarnai replied, her eyes glowing, and one hand reaching out. The struggle was short; Damian didn’t have the energy to fight her mental invasions anymore, and just like that, he was back under her control.

And they had a date with the All.

That was probably one of the most terrifying moments of Simeon’s life, and if he never had to relive it, they’d be in great business. L. was still asleep. Losing her magic had taken rather the toll on her energy levels, and Simeon wasn’t surprised. Much like Morgyn, none of them were the age they looked, and L. was a little too old to be randomly losing her magic.

But it worked, and she was free, and Simeon couldn’t really fault her that, even if it _did_ still leave them in a precarious situation.

She drew in a breath beside him, rolling over a little. One eye looked up at him.

“Hey,” he said. “How are you feeling?”

L. snorted, and rolled back over. “It’s awfully quiet,” she said. “I don’t like how quiet it is.”

Simeon looked sympathetic. Most likely, she meant that she couldn’t sense the flow of magic anymore, the constant cycle of magical energy, to and from the core. He almost said he was sorry. It sounded patronising even in his head.

“Do you have a plan?” she asked, glancing back at him over her shoulder.

“No,” Simeon answered. “I don’t know if Morgyn has one either, but for all our sakes, I kind of hope so.”

L. snorted again. “Wow,” she said. “We’re all screwed if we’re depending on _that_ flake.” She laughed slightly. Simeon did too, remembering how Morgyn was often late for things and tended to get scrambled if too much time was spent on research, as often it was with the Sage of Untamed Magic…

But then, Morgyn was also the most dependable person either of them knew.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” Simeon said. “That was immensely dangerous. We could’ve lost you. We almost _did_.”

L. snorted airily again. “Yeah, but you didn’t.”

Simeon sighed quietly. “This time,” he said under his breath.

L. didn’t answer. It was just as well.

“Something’s wrong,” Cassandra said, almost mumbling.

Morgyn snorted softly. “Yeah.”

“I don’t imagine you have an idea of _what_ is wrong?” Cassandra asked.

“Nope,” Morgyn answered. “Just that there’s _something_ different now, and I don’t think it’s the _good_ kind of different. This is getting frustrating. We’re no closer to stopping Sarnai now than we were three months ago.”

“She makes it difficult,” Cassandra said.

“I’d like to just storm the fortress, you know,” Morgyn said.

Cassandra rolled her eyes. “You’ve only said it three hundred times, Morgyn, but that’ll just get you _both_ gone and then what?”

“We’re twins,” Morgyn said. “We’d figure something out.”

“Uhuh,” Cassandra answered, arching an eyebrow. “Or you’d both have the real-life equivalent of a game over screen. I can’t imagine a situation in which that’d be helpful.”

Morgyn sighed, leaning back in the chair. Cassandra took a breath in.

“Stupid question for you,” she said, “but have you ever heard of being immune to something, and also weak to it?”

Morgyn stared at her for a moment, and then laughed. “What? No. That is definitely not a thing. Who gave you that idea?”

 _Your brother_ , Cassandra thought, but she just shrugged one shoulder. “It was just a random thought I had.”

But even as Morgyn giggled a little more, head shaking in disbelief, something told Cassandra she was on the right track. She wanted to believe it was Damian guiding her. She wanted to _believe_ it.

“I heard someone was starting a little trouble,” Lilith said, as she shifted from bat to Sim.

Miss Hell looked only vaguely surprised to see her. “Well, you’re a little late to the party,” Miss Hell said. “I don’t like you, but I guess if you grovel, I’ll leave you be.”

Lilith tilted her head back. She was more delusional than Lilith had originally suspected she was, but maybe it didn’t matter too much. “I have no intention of grovelling, Miss Hell,” Lilith replied.

“And why is that?” Miss Hell asked.

“I have a bit of news for you,” Lilith replied. “By usual vampire rules, Forgotten Hollow is _mine_ , not yours. I killed him. I get his land and his title.”

“You don’t want it _anyway_ ,” Miss Hell answered, her tone venomous. “And why should we have to answer to _you_? You’re the one that ran off to go ally with the spellcasters!”

“Because Sarnai has never had a dang right mind to lose!” Lilith argued.

“She’s right you know,” Dion said. “Lilith won Forgotten Hollow fair and square.”

“He’s got a point,” Elle put in. “Dislike her you may, but you weren’t the one to win the Hollow. She was. If you can defeat her in combat, then, you can have the Hollow, but we will not bend to you before then.”

“Fine,” Miss Hell said.

Lilith suddenly appeared in front of her. “Let’s settle it then,” she said.

“Let’s.”

To one side, Summer looked concerned. Lilith had said not to come back here, but she needed to know, if what Lilith had told her was true, if vampires really existed… and this is what she found. And all she could feel was concern and dread.

“Sarnai,” Lakshmi’s voice came, just before she materialised. “There’s a – oh. When did you wake up?”

“Relax,” Damian answered. “We’ve got this under control, sister.”

Oh. It was still Sarnai. Lakshmi visibly relaxed, and then shook her head. “I just came to tell you, Vladislaus is dead.”

Sarnai looked surprised. “Oh?” she asked. “We assume you mean _double_ dead.”

“Yeah,” Lakshmi said. “That Lilith girl.”

Sarnai snorted. “Of course,” she said. “If anyone was going to kill the Count, it’d be her alright. Well, good for her. We hope she enjoys her little moment of victory.” It didn’t matter too much to Sarnai. But then, very little mattered much to Sarnai, so perhaps that wasn’t surprising.

“You seem less concerned than I thought you’d be,” Lakshmi said.

Sarnai snorted softly. “Oh sister,” she said. “You said it yourself. We do not _need_ Vladislaus. There is only one person that we need.” And it wasn’t _him_.

“You should stay here this time,” Sarnai said. “If the All fights Damian as hard as it fought the duplicate Morgyn, things may get quite unpleasant. His magical power’s still as high as it was before, higher than the copy’s.”

Lakshmi frowned slightly. She really did try not to question her sister, but there were times, such as this one, it was unavoidable. “I… after what happened last time, to the duplicate, I’d figure you wouldn’t want to try that one again. It’ll probably do the same thing to him.”

Sarnai laughed. “Yes, maybe,” she said. “But we have more than one backup. If we have to kill all the spellcasters to break it, we will.”

 _Even me?_ Lakshmi wondered.

She didn’t dare ask.

Strangely, these two, Summer didn’t know their names, didn’t seem to be concerned about it. Summer had never seen a fight up close before, let alone a _vampire_ fight (vampires existed, _vampires_ existed, vampires _existed_ …). It was terrifying and somehow impressive.

She was too nice for this vampire business, if it was all like this. The very pale lady looked amused, though the darker skinned male seemed about as worried as she was.

For a moment, Miss Hell stood up and aimed at the air. Lilith appeared behind her, and tackled her. The man grimaced, and then grinned.

Never mind. That wasn’t concern, was it?

In less time than it felt like, Lilith eventually emerged victorious. Miss Hell hit the grass, and Lilith peacefully floated back down to stand on her feet.

“I can’t believe you _won_ ,” Miss Hell spat.

“Of course I did,” Lilith answered. “I win most duels I get into.”

“You’ll take proteges, of course?” Miss Hell asked.

“Not you, if that’s what you’re asking,” Lilith replied. “Henceforth, you’re banished from the Hollow. If you ever come back, you may or may not walk away alive again.”

Miss Hell snorted airily, glaring up at her through her eyelashes. And then she stood up, spat at the ground, and walked away.

Elle giggled. “Ta ta now~” she said. “My, good riddance. I thought we’d _never_ get rid of her, you know how much of a steamroller she can be.”

“I had to admit I was a little worried there for a second, sis,” Dion said.

“No reason to be,” Lilith replied. Her gaze glanced at the manor, and then she sighed. She’d wanted to never see that place again.

Elle followed her gaze, and smiled. “The manor is technically yours now, Lilith. It’s where you rightfully belong anyway.”

Lilith wrinkled her nose. “Am I allowed to renovate it?” she asked.

Elle smiled. “The Vampire Queen can do whatever she’d like.”

“Vampire Queen?” Lilith asked, arching an eyebrow.

Elle shrugged. “It’s catchier than Vampire Countess.”

Sarnai wondered how many spellcasters she’d have to burn through before the All’s barriers broke. Certainly they were beyond her, and seemed unwilling to bend to vampire powers, but the one thing the duplicate Morgyn had taught her was that the All’s barriers were weaker to spellcaster magic.

By now, she’d possessed enough spellcasters to know how their magic worked. She pooled Damian’s magic together, and all at once, fired it at the All. The barrier shimmered to life, the crystals reacting as they should, and pushing back. It felt the same as the last time, and Sarnai was expecting the worst.

Strangely, though, when the crystals flashed white and return fired, Sarnai pushed Damian’s magic harder, and the push-back wasn’t as fierce as it had been with the duplicate. The colliding energy became so bright it was painful to watch it, and her eyes fluttered half closed and blinked rapidly.

And then all at once, an explosion threw her backward. A shock wave tore through the room, shattering the bricks and statues. A moment later, they reformed, and Sarnai tilted her head.

And then she was back in her own body. Why did she fall out of him? Sarnai frowned, standing and bursting into shadow, reappearing next to him. Damian was out like a light. She held her hand out, sensing, but he had so little mental, and magical, energy left, she didn’t think she could get him to _do_ anything even if she _was_ still controlling him.

How had he survived that? No matter. He probably wouldn’t make it much longer.

Instead, Sarnai turned to the All, and cautiously, reached her hand out. Where it normally would’ve thrown her away from it, however, it didn’t.

Damian had broken the barrier.

She smiled to herself, a wide and toothy grin, too wide to be sheer joy, and stepped closer. The All shimmered and sparked, swirls and bends of magic in the stone singing a song. It was _intense_ this close. It’d been intense before, but… her hand brushed against the crystal face.

It alighted in vibrant cyan and white, tendrils of magical power swirling up her arms. Sarnai let it go as it would, felt the energy rushing through her veins.

Nobody could stop her now. Sarnai was the most powerful being in the world, now.

“Oh, how far we’ve come, my dear Rakhesekhen,” she said. And to think, this had all started merely because Vladislaus was upset at losing the Vatores. The idea was to make the spellcasters suffer for taking them away from Forgotten Hollow. For making the Hollow, the vampires as a whole, lose two of their strongest.

Oh, but Sarnai had done _so much more_ than that.

“I’m just not sure what else to try,” Morgyn was saying. “And Simeon hasn’t answered me in -” Morgyn stopped talking, looking very concerned about something.

Caleb went to ask what was wrong, but then Morgyn jerked weirdly, sucked a breath in like something hurt, and then unleashed the loudest, most blood-curdling scream Caleb had ever heard in his _life_ , and that said something. Morgyn dropped to the floor, hands raising to press against Morgyn’s head, and Caleb fell not far.

“What happened?” he asked.

“I don’t – I don’t know -” came through gritted teeth, and Morgyn fell over onto the floor.

“What’s wrong?” Cassandra asked, turning the corner.

“I don’t know,” Caleb answered. “Obviously something hurts.”

Morgyn’s magic sparked and unleashed randomly. Caleb frowned, stopping just before they came into contact with one another.

Cassandra looked down at her hand. Something… felt wrong. She frowned slightly, and then flicked her hand. The magic didn’t come.

“Sarnai,” she said. “Sarnai got the All. Magic just died.”

Caleb’s eyebrows furrowed. “No…” he said. “You can’t just _kill magic_.”

“That’s what the All does, Caleb,” Cassandra answered, her features steeling. “I’ll make some tea.” She turned around and headed down the stairs.

Caleb looked down at Morgyn. “… forget it,” he said, more to himself, and then reached over and pulled Morgyn into his lap.

“Magic is going _everywhere_ , Caleb,” Morgyn protested.

“I don’t care,” he said. “You’re hurting.” As far as Caleb was concerned, Morgyn _needed_ him right now. Especially if Cassandra was _right_ and magic had just died. But he didn’t sense it, either. He decided not to think about it.

Morgyn stopped fussing, resting in Caleb’s lap and twitching and sparking sporadically.

“We have got to stop her,” Caleb said quietly. “I just have no idea how to.”

Morgyn drew a breath in. “I have a plan,” Morgyn answered. “No idea if it’ll work… it’s a crazy idea. But you know what, it’s usually the crazy ideas that work.”

Caleb didn’t like the sound of that.


	19. Chapter 19

Something was wrong. Cheyanne couldn’t say for sure what it was, but _something_ had changed, and it wasn’t anything good. Against her better judgement, she ran out of Magic HQ, to the sound of something burning. And all she could do was stare, because nothing else came to mind.

Some part of her heart broke. There were evacuations that needed to happen, there were still spellcasters here, there were magical familiars here, feral cats, it was too soon for this. Her mind ran a mile a second and still didn’t manage to come up with a proper plan on the spot, and maybe there wasn’t one to be had.

“We need to go,” Athena said.

“What the h-“

“It doesn’t matter, Cheyanne,” Athena answered. “We need to _go_.”

Watching the meteors falling from the sky, Cheyanne knew Athena was right, and yet she still didn’t really want to leave. Because walking away from this meant it was over.

Magic, Cheyanne was sure, had just died outright. She couldn’t sense the pulse of magical energy that flowed through the Realm anymore, and now this. The edges of the Realm began to distort. Cheyanne had no idea what had just happened, but this wasn’t a good sign. The Realm had never been unstable, and certainly not unstable enough for meteor strikes to be a problem.

Caster’s Alley was mostly deserted now, but the meteors were going straight for it. Probably, a few would reach the main island. Without magic, those in the Alley would be unable to escape before the strikes.

“The Realm is _collapsing_!” her owl familiar screeched. “Cheyanne, _we need to go_!”

“But everyone else -” Cheyanne protested.

“Now isn’t the time for your heroics!” Athena said, talons grabbing hold of Cheyanne’s sleeve and pulling her toward the gate back to Glimmerbrook. Reluctantly, Cheyanne turned and headed to the portal.

For a moment, the portal acted like it wasn’t going to send her back, but at the last second, it reacted, and she fell out of it onto the stone in Glimmerbrook. She could hear the rushing water sounds of the waterfall.

“Cheyanne!” a male voice called. Cheyanne looked up, as Devante ran towards her. “Cheyanne what just happened?”

“I don’t know,” she answered. Devante helped her stand up. “Everything was fine and then suddenly -“

A loud cracking sound interrupted her, and both spellcasters jumped, looking up at the gate as the frame began to break.

“Move it!” Athena commanded.

The two turned and drew away from the gate; chunks of the stone came apart, the rainbowy film in the middle fading away, and all at once the gate collapsed. Cheyanne stared at it in confusion and sadness. Devante bowed his head.

“That was the only way left to get in or out,” Cheyanne whispered. “Glimmerstones stopped working.” Everyone that was still there were trapped, dead, or both. And Magic Realm was perhaps lost now.

Bit of this and a bit of that, and Morgyn needed this metal piece bent down here… mostly Morgyn was winging it, but so far so good! There was progress being made, at the very least, it was just much slower progress than Morgyn would have liked.

Things Morgyn wasn’t good at: chemistry. That was the wrong thing to drop in there, which Morgyn figured out when it _exploded_. The force threw Morgyn backward into the wall with a loud crashing sound and then a dull thud.

“Ow…” Morgyn said, standing up.

“What the heck was that?” Caleb asked from the staircase.

“Oh, I just blew something up, no big deal,” Morgyn answered.

“No _big deal_?” Caleb repeated.

“I’m alive!” Morgyn argued.

Caleb arched an eyebrow. “At the moment,” he said. “Do you _have_ to explode things? What are you doing, anyway?”

“Science,” Morgyn replied. “I’m doing science. Of course, Damian’s better at science between us. I’m really more of a sparky sparky zappy type of person, but I can do science too! Not as well. Hey, the worst that happens is, I die. And become a ghost. And have to have you do the science instead. Oh well. I think I miscalculated and I need a different chemical.” With that, Morgyn wandered off again.

“Wait,” Caleb said, “I kind of like you _not_ ectoplasmic… Morgyn!” Caleb still didn’t like the sound of this plan.

This was a really big place… not as big as it looked like it should be from the outside, though. It was almost intimidating, and Summer _still_ wasn’t a terribly big fan of being a vampire, but on the other hand… it was what it was. And maybe just learning how to get over that would be a good idea. Summer took a breath, and went to knock on the door, but it opened on its own. She leaned to the side, finding Lilith walking down the hallway towards the door.

Wow. Somebody even decided to give her a crown. She looked really good in that dress, too. Black was definitely her colour. Wasn’t that amusing? Pink was definitely Summer’s colour, and she went and – and she was staring. Summer flushed slightly, and turned her gaze down.

“Wasn’t expecting to see you around here,” Lilith said.

“Yeah,” Summer answered, fidgeting a little. Summer hadn’t seen her with her hair down in a long time, either. It was shorter than she remembered, but it looked really good on her. “Uh. I just came by to say that I’m sorry,” Summer said. “I kind of panicked, and -“

“You’re not the first fledgling to do that, you know,” Lilith said. “And most likely, you won’t be the last. It’s nothing for you to be sorry for. I forgave you when you said it.”

Summer looked a bit pensive. “I guess I wouldn’t be. It’s kind of a shock.”

Lilith laughed slightly. “Yeah, it is. It was even for me, and that was… I forget how long ago now.”

“Not _that_ long ago, right?” Summer asked.

Lilith gave her a look.

“I won’t freak out.” Or at least, Summer didn’t _think_ she’d freak out.

Lilith loosed a sigh, and shrugged one shoulder. “My brother and I were born around the Spain-France divide, not sure which side exactly, borders have changed a lot anyway, in the 1700s sometime.”

“That is a _really_ long time,” Summer said.

“Vampires live until something kills them,” Lilith said.

Of course. “Are vampire hunters a problem?” Summer asked.

“I’ve met maybe five of them in my entire life,” Lilith answered. “Caleb’s run into well over eighty by now, but he also liked to stir up trouble.” He liked finding couples and flirting with one half and then the other later, and watching chaos happen. When a vampire was after your wife, you tended to find a vampire hunter relatively quickly.

“Oh,” Summer said. And then she tilted her head a little. “I don’t… know what I’m doing with all this vampire stuff. I didn’t pay attention to it when I was younger, the stories and things. I kind of regret it now, but I do still trust you. Travis and Liberty don’t really understand things like this, so… I’ll probably move out on my own.”

Lilith’s gaze narrowed for a moment, and then her head raised. “Move in with me,” she said. “I can teach you how this vampire stuff works, and if you lose it and bite me, I won’t be too mad.”

Summer wrinkled her nose. “That’s a possibility? Never mind. One thing at a time.” It was probably safer. “I… that sounds nice. I’ll try not to bug you too much. And… if I get annoying with all my questions, you can tell me to shut up, and if I can help with anything, just ask. I’ve got a job at least, and -“

Lilith loosed an amused huff, and then stepped forward, taking hold of Summer’s waist, pulling her closer and kissing her. And Summer surprised herself by kissing back, and enjoying it.

“This all just seems hopeless.” Cassandra wasn’t sure there was a way around this. With magic gone and died, the spellcasters were just like everyone else, and at the moment, with a crazy vampire that’d just found the source of all magic on the loose, being just like everyone else was a decidedly _bad_ thing.

“Oh I know it does,” Bella answered. “But you see, the thing is, magic is in everything. The All simply focuses and guides it. If you know where to look, you can find it anyway.”

Cassandra tilted her head, frowning slightly. “I never noticed that before,” she said.

“Most don’t,” Bella replied. “Plants and crystals live and breathe magic, though, just as the earth itself.”

“Plants and crystals?” Cassandra asked.

“Of course,” Bella answered.

“So… potions still work?” Cassandra asked.

“Naturally,” Bella said. “The planet has its own magical pulse. It’s much harder to throw off than this. The All’s pulse is the planet’s, but focused. That’s all.”

“Potions still _work_!” Cassandra declared, hugging her mother and running down the street.

“Wait,” Bella said, “where are you going?”

“I have a date with a cauldron!”

“This is silly, right?” Lakshmi asked. “I mean, I didn’t mishear that. But she’s still Sarnai.” And Lakshmi wanted to _believe_ that Sarnai wasn’t out to get her. She’d had plenty of opportunities before, right? But then, she was useful to Sarnai. There was the chance things could _drastically_ change if she didn’t _remain_ useful.

Orion looked upset for a moment, and then shrugged one shoulder. “You know your sister better than I do,” he said. “If you think she’s turning on you, then that’s something I can’t really counter. But I do believe she still loves you, very much.”

Lakshmi couldn’t help the snort. “I don’t know if she _can_ love anymore,” she said, her shoulders falling slightly. “I used to think it was fine, she was just a little quirky after the vampire attack, but, the more time goes on, the more I’m afraid I won’t ever get her back.”

Orion reached a hand out, patting Lakshmi’s arm. “I can’t tell you the truth of that,” he said. “I’m kind of useless in this matter. But I really do believe she still loves you. She just has a hard time showing it. Love that comes in a form you don’t expect it to is still love, Lakshmi.”

Lakshmi sighed. “I still have a hard time believing that. You’re right, it’s just… hard.”

“I know,” he said. “She did love Rakhesekhen, didn’t she?”

Lakshmi frowned. “Honestly, I forgot he existed,” she answered, “but I guess she did.”

“He was kind of memorable, love.”

“To _you_ ,” Lakshmi said. “He was like any other friend of hers to me.” Lakshmi paused a moment, and then said, quietly, “I kind of regret that she ever got on this path.”

“I do too,” Orion said. “And I did tell you that you would when she asked about the barriers.”

“Don’t rub it in,” Lakshmi said, sighing. “I guess I just hope the Sages know what they’re doing, and can stop her before she really loses it.”

Why was that not working? Morgyn was _pretty_ sure all the calculations were right, the formula was correct… Morgyn checked the notes over again, and then again for good measure, but couldn’t find anything wrong. This was frustrating on more than one level. It should be _Damian_ doing this, but then if Damian was here, Morgyn wouldn’t need to do this anyway.

There was time for regret later. This gun wasn’t going to make itself. And perhaps, being fair to Morgyn, given this was the first gun the Sage had ever _seen_ , let alone made, things weren’t going so bad! Caleb was just a worry-wart.

All things considered, Caleb was probably allowed to be freaked out. Nothing had gone right so far.

Morgyn fiddled with the pieces some more, and then the part that was messed up. And it was _still_ messed up. The blond dropped onto the counter-top. This was getting annoying.

“Damian,” Morgyn said, “I don’t know if you can hear me but for the love of Saint Joan, _please_ help me.” Morgyn wasn’t a terribly religious person, but did remember admiring Jeanne d’Arc’s tenacity if nothing else.

For a moment, Morgyn just stared at the pieces on the counter. Like they were puzzle pieces, and if Morgyn stared at them long enough, how they fit together would simply _click_. Maybe it would. Maybe it wouldn’t.

Ah… wait, now Morgyn saw it. Morgyn reached over and started arranging the parts again, this time in a different order, following an internal guide that even Morgyn didn’t understand. A slight metallic _click_ sounded as the last piece slid into place. Morgyn pulled the trigger. The hammer fell.

Now Morgyn just needed the sedative…

According to Dion and Lilith, _this_ house in Forgotten Hollow was where Sarnai was put up by Vladislaus before the latter’s unfortunate demise. (Ha, unfortunate, only because it wasn’t sooner.) That meant, if her sister lived here, too, then she’d be here. Unlike vampires, spellcasters had to sleep, unless they were running on potions, but that generally wasn’t recommended as a long-term solution.

(Had Morgyn used it as one? Ooooh, of course not…)

Morgyn didn’t have to wait very long. The cat, looked like a Burmese, ran out of the house chasing something. Lakshmi came out after it not long after. Seemed the cat’s name was Kit. Morgyn waited a moment, until she’d stopped, aiming, and then fired. The hammer clanked, sending a shot of sedative at her. And down she went, just like that.

That was easier than Morgyn had been expecting. Hoping? Maybe that was a _hope_. Morgyn was slightly bored and very annoyed, and would’ve been quite happy for the excuse to make this less pleasant. But then that’d waste more time, too.

Morgyn stood up, and went to go get Lakshmi off the street, when the front door opened again. This time, a tall male came out.

“Lakshmi, leave h -” Orion paused on the porch. “What did you do?”

“I don’t have to explain myself to _you_ ,” Morgyn half-snarled, raising the gun and firing at _him_ , too. You’d think spellcasters would be better at _dodging_ than this, but he fell too, just as easily. Morgyn’s head shook slightly, as the Sage knelt down and got Lakshmi off the road.

Now for phase two.

She was getting closer. Her parents always taught her to believe in the impossible, because someday, those things that seemed impossible may not be anymore. Cassandra wasn’t sure how much stock she put into that kind of thing, but now… it seemed like maybe she was on the right track, that maybe her parents were right, and all she had to do was believe a little.

It was difficult to be sure, but anything worth anything was worth the struggle, or at least, that was what Cassandra had always thought.

Perhaps a dash of this… Cassandra pulled the herb off the shelf, pulling some into her hand, and dropped a small pinch of it into the cauldron. It didn’t seem to do anything, and Cassandra dropped more in. Then, suddenly, the brew changed colours. That was exactly the result she wanted.

She did it. Somehow, Cassandra did it! Cassandra bounced up and down and squealed, for a moment. And then quickly she bottled the brew up and ran off to go find Morgyn. She had to catch the Sage before Morgyn left, as most likely, Morgyn was going after Sarnai soon. Cassandra had every intention of going.

Oh, her head hurt. Off-hand, Lakshmi wasn’t sure why, but the rest of her didn’t. Her head was a little fuzzy, too, and she wasn’t sure what to make of that.

She sat up, very slowly because it was easier not to move too quickly, staring at the wood flooring underneath her. It was a nice tone of brown, Lakshmi thought. Her gaze went up to the walls, finding a very tall metal fence around her. She was more or less in a cage.

And she didn’t recognise where she was… then she saw the blond.

“Oh,” Lakshmi said. “ _You_. I should’ve figured.”

Morgyn snorted. “Yeah, you probably should’ve. You’re likely wildly aware of what this is about.”

Lakshmi’s eyes narrowed. “You won’t get terribly far, you know.”

“I would imagine I’ll get just far enough,” Morgyn replied.

“Sarnai has little to no ability to care about anything,” Lakshmi said. “And likely, little use for me left.”

Morgyn’s hands clasped together, as the blond knelt down to look at her properly through the fence bars. “We’ll find out what she does soon enough.” Morgyn needed very little from Sarnai right now, anyway. The rest of it, that could be figured out _later_. Right now, Morgyn just wanted Damian back.

“Morgyn,” came a female voice from the stairs. “Are you – oh my Watcher.” Cassandra stopped at the base of the stairs, blinking in surprise at Lakshmi on the other side of that fence.

“Nice to meet you too,” Lakshmi said. She didn’t sound annoyed, or patronising, just tired, mostly.

“I… are you going after Sarnai soon?” Cassandra asked, deciding to turn her attention back to Morgyn.

“Later tonight, why?” Morgyn asked.

“I’m coming,” Cassandra said.

“What? No,” Morgyn replied. “Caleb’s coming because I need backup, but you, you’re staying here.”

“No I’m not,” Cassandra answered. “I have a plan, and you look like you’re going to need it if _she_ is the only one you could come up with.”

“I tried to tell him that,” Lakshmi said.

“Morgyn is Morgyn, not he,” Cassandra said.

Lakshmi arched an eyebrow. _What_? She sighed, then, crossing her arms and looking away. It wasn’t like _she_ cared.

“This is going to be messy,” Morgyn said.

“You think I don’t know that?” Cassandra asked. “He’s my husband. You’re _not_ leaving me here.”

Morgyn sighed. “Fine,” the blond said. “Just… fine. I’m leaving tonight around eight.”

“I’ll be ready.”

_Hang on just a little longer for me, Damian. We’re coming._


	20. Chapter 20

Unfortunately, since Glimmerstones no longer worked, they had to get to Magic Realm the pedestrian way. Morgyn wasn’t terribly fond of the idea, but it wasn’t like they had a choice in the matter. Unfortunately, Morgyn didn’t quite remember where the heck it was, and they spent some time wandering around Glimmerbrook in circles.

And then, finally, they found it.

“Oh, _great_ ,” Morgyn said upon seeing it, and then swore quietly. “That was the only way I can think of to get there.”

Cassandra saddened at seeing the rubble of the gate. Without the gate, and Glimmerstones, then what was there? Maybe she should’ve been working on a teleportation potion. (Was that even a thing?)

“Calm down,” Caleb said. “Lilith just learned to teleport via mist. We can ask her to get us there.”

“Lilith’s never _been_ to Magic Realm,” Morgyn argued.

“Of course not,” Caleb said. “But I’ll bet either the gate has a residual indicator of how to get there, or _you_ do.” Morgyn _was_ a Sage, after all.

Morgyn seemed to find that plan fine, because nothing else was said before the blond had started off toward Forgotten Hollow. Caleb just snorted in amusement, and followed.

“Just because it’s _dark_ doesn’t mean it’s _evil_ , Summer,” Lilith was saying.

Summer looked a bit unsure about that assessment, but if Lilith said so.

“Darkness just is,” Lilith went on. “Just like light can be good or bad, so can darkness.”

“Light can be bad?” Summer asked.

“You ever gotten a sunburn?” Lilith asked in return. “The sun’s rays are actually very dangerous, even to human Sims. They’re just kind of resistant to it and the atmosphere helps too. … and we have visitors.”

“No one bad I hope,” Summer said.

“Just them, hey,” Lilith greeted, as Caleb opened the door and they went in. “Oh boy, what’s with the faces?”

“The only known other way into Magic Realm collapsed,” Caleb said.

“We were hoping you could find another way in,” Cassandra explained.

Oh. “How do you figure I do that?” Lilith asked.

“Well, either Morgyn or the gate itself might have enough of a pathway for you to pick up on,” Caleb answered.

Lilith’s lips moved to one side, and then she moved over, holding a hand out in front of Morgyn. “… mm-mm,” she said. “You’ve been out of Magic Realm too long. Take me to this gate I guess.”

“Why does it have to be _raining_ , anyway?” Morgyn grumbled. The four of them had appeared at the remnants of the gate, this time with Lakshmi. To her credit, she stayed quiet.

“Maybe the Watcher’s crying,” Cassandra answered.

“It’s still annoying,” Morgyn replied.

“You’re just in a mood,” Cassandra said, crossing her arms.

Morgyn didn’t respond, mostly because Cassandra was right. It’d been almost four months since Damian had gone, though, and it was surprising Cassandra didn’t seem as impatient as Morgyn. Then again, maybe it was for the best. _Two_ of them losing their patience would probably make Caleb and Lilith’s jobs harder than necessary.

“Ah, I got it,” Lilith said. She stood up from the rubble of the gate, and shuffled over to them. “Here, stand right here,” she said, waving her hand to indicate where they needed to be.

Cassandra moved into place, eyeing Morgyn like she was worried the Sage would do something _stupid_. Truth be told, she kind of was.

As soon as Caleb and Morgyn had moved, Lilith focused her powers, and all five vanished in a burst of black smoke.

As they landed, Cassandra held her head for a moment. “Wow, what a trip.”

“Yeah, it takes some getting used to,” Lilith answered. “Just stay still for a moment.”

“Oh no…” Morgyn said, shuffling towards the edge of the cliff they stood on. The sound of fire crackling and some odd wooshing sound could be heard not far away, and it looked like Morgyn found it.

Cassandra and Caleb followed Morgyn’s gaze. Cassandra gasped, her hands raising to cover her mouth. Caleb frowned.

Lilith arched an eyebrow.

“Is that normal?” Lilith asked.

“No,” Morgyn, Caleb, and Cassandra answered at once.

“Caster’s Alley… that’s where all the stray familiars hang out…”

“Come on,” Caleb said. “If we don’t do something about it, it’s not going to change.”

Caleb was right, and Morgyn knew it. A slight head tilt, and a breath in, and Morgyn turned back around. “We need to find Sarnai,” Morgyn said, “but I don’t know where to start looking, and my sensing capabilities are … well, lacking.”

Lilith smiled. “I have an idea.”

Morgyn looked confused, but Lilith just pulled herself up and began meditating.

“Vampires can sense one another through dark meditation,” Caleb said. “If there’s still any vampire left in her, Lilith will be able to sense it.”

“Probably a good thing we still have a vampire on our side, huh?” Morgyn asked.

Caleb laughed. “Yeah, just a bit.” If they were still working with Miss Hell, this would be messier than it needed to be, and she might’ve turned out to be an active hindrance.

They went quiet, waiting for Lilith. Cassandra glanced at Morgyn, and then reached over and nudged Morgyn’s arm.

“I still can’t bring people back from the dead,” she said. “So you’re not allowed to do anything dumb.”

“Define dumb, love,” Morgyn replied, arching an eyebrow.

Cassandra stared for a moment, and then laughed. “Sometimes I can’t believe you and Damian are related.”

“Oh, you should’ve met him when he was young still,” Morgyn replied. “He was worse than me. Got into a lot more trouble than I did, and not just over my lack of pronouns.” Morgyn went quiet for a moment, and then quietly said, “I regret losing that Damian. And I don’t want to lose the one I’ve still got.”

Cassandra smiled sadly, reaching over and taking Morgyn’s hand. Morgyn looked up at her, and returned her smile.

“Got her,” Lilith said, setting back down on the grass. “Let’s go.”

Sarnai snorted, as the group mist-ported in. That wasn’t surprising to her. She was expecting a rescue party at some point or another. Damian still hadn’t woken up, but neither had he died. That was _also_ surprising. He was tougher than he looked, that was for sure.

Of course, it didn’t matter to her much if he died now. He was no use to her anymore. The All was hers now, and that was as much as she needed _him_ for. On the bright side, he still wasn’t awake enough to whinge and be annoying.

Not that he did a lot of whinging. It was mostly defiance. The Embers apparently had a thing against authority, and perhaps a lacking attachment to breathing.

“We suppose you’re here for Damian?” Sarnai asked. She waved a hand. Sparkles of magic swirled around to one side, and there he was.

Cassandra almost moved to get him down, but Caleb grabbed her arm before she could. It was probably for the best. Instead, she grit her teeth.

“We were more interested in throwing him off one of these islands,” Sarnai said. “How far will one fall? Without the barriers, would you fall forever? We imagine the barriers keep one from falling into space, at least…”

Sarnai turned to one side, walking a bit. And then she grinned her wild grin, and reached out, her hand sparkling.

“I wouldn’t do anything _stupid_ if I were you, Sarnai,” Morgyn said. The hammer clicked, as Morgyn aimed the tranquiliser gun at Lakshmi.

Sarnai paused, her hand lowering a slight bit, as she turned to Morgyn. Her gaze then fell on her sister, and her lips flattened into a line.

“That’s right,” Morgyn said. “So, your bloodline ends here. Or will you save it? Choose wisely.” Morgyn had made this tranquiliser gun to look like a real one on purpose. Sarnai wouldn’t know the difference. Morgyn had made sure rummaging around in _Morgyn’s_ head was a nigh impossible task before coming, and the others had no idea the gun existed in the first place.

Cassandra _looked_ like she wanted to ask, and for that matter, so did Caleb. Lilith just looked amused.

“What do you want?” Sarnai asked, her eyes narrowing, hands resting on her hips.

“An even trade,” Morgyn replied. “I’ll give you yours, if you give me mine.” Morgyn wouldn’t stretch this so far as to demand Sarnai release the All in exchange for her sister, but if she just gave Damian back, that would be good enough.

Sarnai considered the deal for a moment, and then glanced down at Lakshmi. Her sister fearfully glanced up at Morgyn, and then met Sarnai’s gaze and just barely, shook her head no. She’d figure it out eventually, or at least, Lakshmi hoped.

Eventually, Sarnai released a sigh, and then nodded her head. “Fine.” Her hand raised, her fingers snapping together, and the ropes holding Damian released him.

Caleb moved to get him, but Lilith held her hand out and stopped him, getting him herself. Caleb wasn’t a vampire anymore, but if Sarnai decided to lash out at whoever it was that retrieved Damian, Lilith had a higher chance of tolerating it.

But, Sarnai didn’t stop her, as she gathered Damian up off the floor and moved away. Morgyn lowered the gun, and nodded for Lakshmi to go. One last concerned glance at Morgyn, and Lakshmi scurried over to her sister, pausing long enough to hug her, and then tucking herself behind her just slightly.

As Lakshmi scurried behind her, Sarnai gave her a look over. “Are you okay?” she asked. It was hard to tell if the spellcasters had done anything to her sister, but she _seemed_ okay.

For a moment, Lakshmi looked confused, and then nodded. “I am.” Maybe Orion was right, and in her strange, detached manner, Sarnai really did care about her. She _had_ just given up one of the Embers over her, after all. “I’m surprised you agreed to that.”

Sarnai shrugged one shoulder. “Damian has used up his usefulness. If that was all they wanted, we feel like we came out on top.”

For a moment, Lakshmi went quiet, and then said, “Sometimes, I can’t tell if you really care about me or not.”

Sarnai gave Lakshmi the most confused stare she’d ever worn on her face before. “You’re our _sister_ ,” Sarnai said. “The only one we’ve ever had. Of course we do. We are not good at feelings. We’re sorry if we hurt you.”

And Lakshmi smiled.

And Cassandra was at an impasse.

Did she do it, or did she leave it alone? Damian was safe now, maybe that was the important part. But then, she did know if she left it alone, the All would remain in Sarnai, and magic would never return. As much as she hated to admit it, Sarnai had _immensely_ thrown off the balance of the world, and now wasn’t a good time to grow sympathy for the sisters.

Cassandra drew a breath in, remembering the pain of being separated from Damian, not knowing if he was alive or not, of having to send her daughter away and lie to the girl. And then she grit her teeth. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, and then drew her arm back and threw the potion, quickly reaching over and pulling Lilith behind her.

“Wha -“

The explosion was instant. The moment it hit Sarnai’s skin, the bottle burst, unleashing the potion. Sarnai looked confused for a moment, and then drew a gasp in, just as a brilliant shot of light went into her heart.

“ ** _NO!_** ” Lakshmi shrieked, as her sister burst into ash.

Lakshmi fell to the floor. Sparks of purple light loosed from the ash, rising into the air like a tiny pack of fairies dancing their fairy dance, and then the light was gone. Cassandra gasped softly as magic flooded back through her veins, stepping backward slightly from the sudden rush of it.

Morgyn crackled and sparked, grimacing as it was difficult to control. Caleb’s hand opened, and sparks danced on his skin.

The All was alive, and magic had returned.

The giddiness began to wear off. Cassandra turned to Lakshmi, curled up beside her sister’s remains and crying. Cassandra felt sorry for her, not hatred. Cassandra and Lakshmi were a lot alike in this; both just loved someone caught up in it.

“I’m sorry,” Cassandra said, stepping toward Lakshmi a few steps.

“ _Don’t_ ,” Lakshmi snarled. Cassandra backed up one step. “Don’t bother. Sarnai had lost her mind, and I know it as well as anyone else. Maybe better.” Lakshmi paused, sniffling. “It needed to be done, and maybe I wasn’t enough to bring her back from the dark path she wandered down. It was partly my own fault, anyway. I gave her what she needed to know to start.”

Lakshmi stood, her gaze still on the pile of ash. For a moment, she just watched it, and then waved her hand and the ash was gone. “I don’t hate you for that,” Lakshmi said. “But for the record, we’ll never be friends.”

Lakshmi turned, and walked away, and no one stopped her.

Cassandra sadly watched her go, and then drew a breath in, turning to Lilith and Damian. “Is he going to be okay?” she asked.

Lilith tilted her head. “He’s alive,” she said. “Barely, but he’s hanging on. Vampire magic is unpredictable and kind of a mess, so it’s hard to say what’ll happen long term. I’ll need a better look at him. But I will help any way I can.”

Cassandra took a breath in. She turned to Morgyn, then. “You’ll have to help rebuild, I’m sure.”

Morgyn snorted. “No. I’m technically a Sage, but, Damian comes first this time.” Because Damian should’ve come first the last time. “Let’s go home.”


	21. Chapter 21

Cassandra was trying not to fidget. This was Lilith, of course, and Cassandra trusted Lilith, she was just jumpy, overall. Now that he was finally back, _finally_ , she couldn’t help the strong urge to protect him from _everything_. Apparently, even Lilith, not that she was a match for Lilith. A glance at Morgyn across the room told her Morgyn was having the same internal war she was.

At least she wasn’t being _too_ ridiculous.

“Sarnai did something for sure,” Lilith said, focusing for a moment. “What I can’t tell you is _what_ she did.”

Cassandra frowned. “Can you fix it anyway?” she asked.

Lilith sighed. “I think so,” she said. “It may just take a while longer than it should, and I make no promises it’ll have an effect. Minds are strange things. I can’t tell you, right now, how he’ll recover in the long term. Some of it’s fixing what Sarnai did, and some of it’s his own will to keep living.”

Cassandra glanced at the floor, looking sad again.

“Hey,” Lilith said, “I’ll do everything I can, I promise. I just don’t want you to get your hopes up and then be disappointed.”

Cassandra sighed, glancing at the floor one more time. “I’ll just go make tea,” she said. “Do you want anything?”

“I’m okay,” Lilith answered.

“I’ll come with you,” Morgyn decided, following Cassandra out.

Lilith sighed, turning to Damian. “Okay you,” she said. “Beauty sleep is over.”

It wasn’t like they didn’t know this could happen. It didn’t make dealing with it any easier, but then they all had some issues to deal with now. And now they had a _gun_ around the house, because that was exactly what they needed.

Cassandra didn’t complain about it. She understood the point.

“Want a certain kind in particular?” she asked, reaching the tea maker.

Morgyn shrugged one shoulder. “Not exactly. Green might be nice though.”

“Yeah,” Cassandra agreed. Well, she’d make green then.

“Lilith’s pretty good at what she does, you know?” Morgyn said.

“I know,” Cassandra answered. “It’s not her I don’t trust.”

Morgyn looked confused for a moment, and then the light dawned, so to say. “You’re afraid he won’t want to come back,” Morgyn said quietly.

Cassandra didn’t answer, but the way she tensed up meant she didn’t really need to.

“There’s nothing to worry about, Cassie,” Morgyn said. “Why wouldn’t he want to come back to you?”

Cassandra snorted derisively, and then set her hands on the counter and released a sigh. “You know, his life was a lot quieter and simpler until I showed up.”

Morgyn went quiet, eyeing her. And then said, “A life without love is no life at all.”

Cassandra smiled bitterly, loosing a huff of air. Her eyes closed for a moment, and she shook her head. “I know things turned out the way they did for a reason,” she said. “There’s always a reason. I just can’t help but think that, if it weren’t for me, his life might’ve gone better. He of all people deserves that much. And it kind of hurts to think I brought him pain.”

“You didn’t,” Morgyn said, firmly. “You gave him meaning again, something to wake up for. He _loves you_ , Cassandra.” _And so do I_. Morgyn almost said it, but then bit it back, instead.

It could wait. And maybe Morgyn should be having a conversation with Caleb about this first, anyway. Morgyn didn’t want one or the other. Morgyn wanted both.

“It’s ridiculously _good_ to be back,” Simeon said.

Morgyn had to laugh a little. “It is, yeah,” Morgyn agreed. “Shame L. decided not to come back.”

Simeon shrugged. “Well, she just had her daughter,” he said. “Sometimes things become more important than being a Sage, and she at least found a new one.”

“I guess so,” Morgyn said. “How’s Caster’s Alley?”

“Much better than I expected,” Simeon answered. “Seems the familiars banded together and got the fires under control relatively quickly. Still lost a number of them, but at least they’re not _all_ gone, and Caster’s Alley sustained less damage than it could’ve.”

Morgyn released a breath. “That’s good then. I’ll also replace my copy.”

Simeon arched an eyebrow. “After what happened last time, do you really think that’s a good idea?”

“Of course,” Morgyn answered. “And this time, I’ll know it if there’s something wrong with one of my copies. If anything like this happens again, maybe we’ll know sooner and be able to stop it before it gets as far as Sarnai did.”

Ugh, there was so much tangled _mess_ in Damian’s head, it was almost too much for Lilith to deal with on her own. Unfortunately, Caleb wasn’t a vampire anymore, and the other vampires weren’t skilled enough at vampire abilities to be able to be of much assistance.

And yet it was almost like Damian was _fighting_ her. That was annoying, because it was difficult to get across to an unconscious individual that she _wasn’t_ Sarnai, she was trying to _help_.

For a moment, Lilith considered her options. What else could be done here? Maybe she should see if Cassandra or Morgyn could get him, even in his unconscious state, to figure out he was home. It was logical, of course, that someone that’d been through a lot of mental invasion wasn’t someone that would be easy to invade the mind of, _again_. Unfortunately, Lilith couldn’t really help him any other way.

“Cassandra,” Lilith said, stepping out. Cassandra was over by the fireplace, reading something.

She stood up immediately. “Yes?”

“I need you to go in there and talk to him,” Lilith said. “He should be able to hear you.”

“Why?” Cassandra asked.

“I think he doesn’t know that I’m not Sarnai,” Lilith explained. “If he hears you, he should figure out he’s safe now. I think he’s subconsciously fighting me, and I’m having a hard time making any progress without causing more damage.”

Oh. That was logical. Cassandra glanced at the floor, and then looked back up at Lilith and nodded. “I will then.”

“I’m going to go take a break,” Lilith said. “I have a couple vampires to reward anyway. And maybe your voice will draw him to you, anyway.”

She wasn’t sure what she was supposed to say, here. Still, Cassandra settled down beside Damian, her hands reaching out to take one of his. He looked like he was sleeping, but she knew better. Her heart squeezed. She glanced down at their hands.

“Damian,” she said, “I wanted to say that I’m sorry. I know you’ll argue with me, if you were awake, so I’ll tell you now. I should’ve come sooner. We’re supposed to be in these kinds of things together, you know, that’s what being married is all about, sharing burdens. I sent Esmeralda to live with my parents and Alex for a while. When you wake up and she comes back, maybe we’ll try the park again.”

She went quiet for a moment, and then drew in a breath. “Lilith brought home plasma fruit tree seeds,” she said. “They’re full-grown now, almost reach the ceiling. I told Lilith when she got them that you’d have a lot of fun studying them. It seems like something you’d enjoy. I took good care of them. Lilith and Summer, she’s Lilith’s girlfriend and a vampire too now, use them to avoid feeding on human Sims. They’re moving out soon, but Lilith wants to help you first. Damian, you have to stop fighting her.”

Once again, she went quiet, staring at their joined hands, and then the ugly sting of tears blurred her vision, and she loosed a burst of air. “Please,” she whinged, reaching over to brush some of Damian’s hair out of his face. “Damian please, come back to me. I need you, please come back.” Cassandra sat back, resting her head on Damian’s hand, and let go of all the tears she’d been holding in.

Caster’s Alley really was doing better. Morgyn couldn’t help the smile, gazing over the edge of the island, watching the pieces of bridge suspended in the air, and the comets shoot past. Parts of Caster’s Alley were damaged, and there _was_ some loss of life, but the damage wasn’t anything a good Repairio or Scruberoo couldn’t fix.

Morgyn turned around, watching the casters in the alley right then scurry around and repair things. It was nice to see that the damage wasn’t going to be permanent, at least the damage to Magic Realm wouldn’t be.

Morgyn could only _hope_ the damage to Damian was the same. Sitting around waiting for him to wake up had started getting to be a bit much, so Morgyn decided to come help with repairs to take the mind off that. Busying the hands helped distract the mind, much of the time.

As Morgyn watched, there came a strange sound to one side. Morgyn frowned, and then turned towards it, following it. It sounded like…

Morgyn knelt down, peeking at the base of a bush. And just there was a very tiny kitten, backed against a building wall. It was hard to tell what colour the kitty was supposed to be, because it was very dirty, and had a smudge of black on its nose.

“Hey little guy…” Morgyn said, deliberately keeping a steady, even tone. “Come here.” The kitten tried to back up more, and Morgyn scooted backward too. “It’s okay, I won’t hurt you. I just want to get you a bath.”

Morgyn had the patience, and decided to sit there however long it took the kitten to come out. Fortunately, it only took another ten minutes, and the kitten scooted out, eyeing and sniffing Morgyn in curiosity. Morgyn smiled slightly, holding a hand out.

“Well aren’t you cute,” Morgyn said. “Where’s your mommy?” Just as Morgyn asked, the kitten bounded off. Morgyn stood up and followed, and the kitten led to another bush. Morgyn peered under it.

Morgyn frowned sadly, and then stood back up, and went to find somewhere to dig a grave. The least Morgyn could do was put the poor baby to rest.

What all did cats need, anyway? This one probably wasn’t litter trained, but they’d need a litter box, and probably litter. Kittens couldn’t live on salad, for sure, so they’d also need kitten food. Morgyn didn’t happen to have any on-hand. Kitties also liked scratching things…

“Welcome home,” Caleb said.

Morgyn smiled slightly. “Thanks.” And then Morgyn leaned over and set the kitten, now very clean and a pretty white with orange spots, on the floor.

“Oh my Watcher, it’s so cute!” Caleb said, kneeling down to look at the kitten. “Wait, are we keeping it?”

Morgyn fidgeted slightly, and then said, “His name is Pixel.”

Caleb snorted softly. “I’ll go get cat food and litter,” he said, and then leaned over and kissed Morgyn’s cheek before heading for the door.

The birds were making a lot of racket out there. It wasn’t the first time Damian was _very_ interested in getting up and tossing water at their nests, but he was also very comfortable and didn’t want to. For a moment, he just stayed lying where he was, readjusting to the sounds, and the scents, and slowly regaining feeling.

He’d have to take it easy, he thought, as he reoriented to being in his body again. Astral projecting too much tended to make him feel really detached. It was what it was, he supposed. There was this weird tingling feeling in most of his limbs, but that was to be expected. Awareness returned at a slow rate, like molasses dripping through a filter. His head hurt, but Damian wasn’t sure if that was true pain, or if it was the residual echoes of the migraine Sarnai gave him.

It was nice to be home. And he knew he was home, because he recognised the scents and the sounds of the city below. About eight in the morning, if he was any good at guessing the time solely on sound.

Ah, he felt something on his arm. His fingers twitched, finding resistance, and he opened one grey eye, and then the other. For a moment, he stared at her hair like he couldn’t remember who she was, but then it clicked. Cassandra.

His eyes narrowed. There was an odd flood of relief at seeing her. She looked peaceful like that, but then sleeping that way was eventually going to hurt her back, and maybe her legs, too. Damian leaned to the side a bit. Her legs were under her. Yes, that would get quite unpleasant eventually.

Slowly, he moved the hand she wasn’t clinging to and sleeping on, gently patting her hair. She gave a slight start, gasping softly, and sat bolt upright. Damian gave her a moment, smiling quietly, and then she started crying.

“Oh Cassie, no,” he whispered, but she moved over to him, wrapping her arms around him, laying her head on his shoulder.

“I was – I was afraid you’d never -” Cassandra hiccuped. There was no telling what Sarnai had done, and how it would affect him, and him never waking up was a very real possibility, though she was loathe to admit it.

“Shh,” Damian said. “It’s okay. I’m here now.” And for now, the rest didn’t matter.


	22. Chapter 22

Why was it morning already? Cassandra grumbled, and then buried her face in Damian’s shoulder. And for a moment, things were just the way they’d been before, and all the pain and heartache they’d dealt with, the separation and close calls… just didn’t matter anymore. Of course, that pain was still there, and maybe it’d take a long time before it _truly_ went away. Still, Damian was home, and he was conscious. He was still weak, but he was getting stronger every day.

“Good morning, love,” Damian whispered.

He always was an early riser. Sometimes Morgyn was too, but it depended on the day. “Good morning,” Cassandra answered. “How’re you feeling?”

“Alive,” Damian answered. It sounded like a neutral answer, but feeling alive was kind of unpleasant at the moment.

Cassandra reached up and pat his hair. “I know it,” she said. She didn’t want to let him go. Some part of her was so afraid that if she let him go, he wouldn’t be there anymore. It was a silly fear and she knew it, but…

“How are you?” Damian asked.

Cassandra took a breath in. “Better,” she said. “I don’t want to get up, but I should.”

“Yeah,” Damian replied. “Unfortunately life is still out there.”

“I do wish it’d screw off.”

Damian laughed, and a little bit of Cassandra’s heart melted. “I’ll still be here later,” Damian said.

Cassandra sighed, sitting up. “Yeah, thankfully. I should probably make breakfast anyway.”

Damian sat up, too, and then smiled a boyish smirk that made Cassandra’s heart do cartwheels. “Probably. … I kind of missed your food at least.”

“I don’t imagine Sarnai fed you well,” Cassandra said, frowning. “I’ll make something really good.”

“You don’t have to,” Damian protested.

“Of course I do,” Cassandra said, reaching over and hugging him. “You’re my husband. That’s what we do with husbands.”

“Why is it always right at the last second?” Lakshmi said, sighing.

Orion shrugged one shoulder, his thumb massaging hers. “I don’t know, love.”

Kit, Lakshmi’s familiar, was in the backyard, probably chasing bugs. Some familiars were decent, but other ones were still animals at heart. Lakshmi thought it was cute, and sometimes Kit accidentally brought in bugs she could use for potions.

“I kind of want to bring her back and punch her,” Lakshmi said.

Orion snorted softly. “I am glad she told you at all,” he said, resting his head on hers.

“I guess,” Lakshmi said. “It just came so late, and even though she said it, it being so late makes me wonder. Sarnai was very good at saying what people needed her to say, at just the right moment. For all her insanity, she was actually very brilliant.” And yet, that was what made Sarnai so dangerous, even to Lakshmi.

Death was nothing to magic. Maybe… but then, why? Even as much as she missed her sister, Lakshmi did have to admit, Sarnai never quite _lived_.

“Come on,” Orion said, standing up and pulling Lakshmi with him. “Let’s go do something besides mope.”

“Like what?” Lakshmi asked, arching an eyebrow up.

Orion thought for a moment, and then said, “There’s chocolate ice cream in the freezer…”

Lakshmi tilted her head, smirking. “Last one to the bottom has to make dinner.”

“You’re on.”

“And then she threw a potion at her,” Morgyn said, “and I was kind of excited because she’d been at the cauldron for _weeks_ , right, and we finally got to see what she was doing. It explodes and fires a bolt of light into Sarnai’s heart.”

“I’ve never heard of a potion that does that,” Damian said, sounding pretty awed.

“Yeah,” Morgyn said. “Me either. But I suppose you should expect that sort of thing out of a Bachelor-Goth.”

Damian smiled slightly. “I guess so.” Somewhere amid the story of the rescue mission, Morgyn had reached over and taken his hand. Damian wasn’t complaining, though it _was_ a bit strange how nobody seemed to want to let him go.

He should probably get used to that for now.

“You know,” Morgyn said, “while you were gone, I realised something. And I think I owe it to you to be honest about it.”

Damian arched an eyebrow. “And what’s that?” he asked.

“Somewhere along the way, I fell in love with her,” Morgyn answered. “… Cassandra I mean.”

Damian’s eyebrow went a little further upward. “Yes?” he asked. “I know that. And?”

Morgyn blinked. “Wait, you what?”

“I know that,” Damian repeated. “You’ve only been falling in love with her since you moved in, maybe before that.” It wasn’t like Damian felt _threatened_ by it. It was maybe even for the best. His twin loving his wife as much as he did, that meant Morgyn was likely to be just as protective and supportive of her as he was, and more support was never a bad thing.

“I really want to ask how you knew that before I did,” Morgyn said, frowning slightly.

“I’m your twin,” Damian answered. “There’s not much you can hide from me, you know. It’s my job to know these things. Have you talked to Caleb about this?”

“Not yet, no,” Morgyn answered. “I was going to, but it seemed rude to talk to Caleb about it first before I talked to you.”

“I guess we have a discussion to have later then, huh?”

“You didn’t do anything _dumb_ , did you?” Nathalie asked, glancing at Dion. “Nice place,” she said, quieter, looking around.

“I haven’t renovated yet,” Lilith answered. “It’s too 18th century for my tastes. And no, he didn’t do anything dumb. Rather the opposite.”

“Oh,” Nathalie answered. “Do I gotta bow like that too?”

“No,” Lilith replied. “Only if you want to. They don’t have to either.”

“Yes they do,” Morgyn said, snorting.

“You be quiet.”

“Do you know how this royalty thing works, Lilith?” Morgyn asked.

“And it’s too 18th century for me,” Lilith replied. “I have a _throne room_ in this day and age, wild. Anyway, let’s just get this over with. The less frequently I need to wear my crown, the better in my opinion.”

No, Lilith was not terribly fond of having a crown in the first place. And where the heck all did Elle even _get it_? If Lilith got arrested later for smuggling historical royal jewels, she was going to be _very mad_.

“So, thank you for coming so quickly,” she said, looking at Kane and Dion. “And it’s very nice to meet you Nathalie. Dion talks about you all the time. I’m Lilith.”

“I hope he says good stuff,” Nathalie said.

Lilith laughed. “Very good stuff.” She drew a breath in. “Now, I wanted to formally thank you for your assistance against Sarnai. Your information was actually very useful. You three are always welcome in my court, and Forgotten Hollow, should you ever wish to return.”

Dion arched an eyebrow. “All due respect Miss Lilith, what?”

“You’re free now,” Lilith said. “Morgyn, would you mind?”

“Happily,” Morgyn answered. “ _Devampirio_!”

Dion blinked in surprise, as the golden light swirled around him and Nathalie. He could feel his fangs shrink, and then suddenly he was _hungry_. Really and truly hungry for the first time in at least five years.

He reached up, pressing one finger against what used to be a fang. It was a normal size now for a canine tooth. Dion looked up at Kane. Kane smiled at him, and Dion couldn’t help smiling back.

“That’s what I meant,” Lilith said, smiling too.

“Oh I’m definitely bothering you guys,” Dion said. “Ya’ll aren’t great at self-care.”

Lilith laughed. “I guess.”

“Besides,” Kane said, “there’s only one queen we answer to, and that’s you. Let us know if you need anything. … and thank you.”

“You know, something tells me they’re not going to be very pleased to see me,” Damian said.

Cassandra laughed at him. “Oh come on,” she said. “They do actually like you. And you’re not possessed anymore!”

“For now,” Damian grumbled.

“Don’t _jinx_ it!” Cassandra said, heading to the door. Today, Esmeralda came home, finally. Sarnai was gone, Damian was awake, and things were on the up and up. Almost back to normal.

Whatever _that_ was.

“DADDY!!” a loud squeal tore through the house before Cassandra could even knock. She laughed, as the small black-frizzy-haired girl shot out of the house and tackled Damian’s legs. “Daddy you home! I go home too?!”

“Yes,” Damian said, reaching down to scoop the girl up. “You go home too.”

“What happened?” Bella asked, coming down the hallway. “One moment magic had died, and then it came back as quick as it went!”

Cassandra smiled, watching Damian and Esmeralda. “It’s a long story, mama…”

“I knew these food stalls were here, but I didn’t bother stopping by them before,” Cassandra said.

“They’re really good,” Damian said. “I know, I know you’re really picky about your food, but think of it this way, you can steal their recipes and make them better.”

Cassandra looked mock scandalised. “Such terrible business tactics,” she said.

“Yeah well,” Damian said, shrugging, “you’re the best chef ever anyway.”

“Aww, thank you,” Cassandra said.

For a moment, Damian went quiet, glancing over towards the building on the park. And then, suddenly, he tilted his head. “We got married here.”

Cassandra tilted her head, too. “Yes?”

Damian didn’t answer, just reached down to pick Esmeralda up, and then took Cassandra’s hand, pulling her over to the archway.

“Damian, what are you doing?” she asked, as he took her hands.

“A lot of stuff’s happened, Cassie,” he said. “And I feel like we got past an entire chapter of our lives. Maybe lots of chapters of our lives, and it was hard and I know it hurt. It hurt us both. And I want you to know that I love you even more than I did before now. And I will never stop loving you, no matter what happens.”

Cassandra breathed out. “Oh.” For a moment, her head went blank, and then she took a breath in. “I said it the last time, and I meant it then and I mean it now. When things get hard, I want you to come to me. We’ll figure it out together. I love you in that way that I don’t have to think about. I can’t imagine my life without you now, the good and the bad.”

Damian smirked. “I may now kiss the bride, right?”

Cassandra laughed, pulling him closer. Esmeralda giggled and clapped her hands, as the two re-exchanged their rings.

“Hey, no paparazzi this time,” Cassandra said, smiling.

“Shhh,” Damian said. “Now we have to go because they heard you!”

“I was pretty sure we were never going to get here,” Caleb said.

Morgyn laughed a bit. “Well you _did_ kind of charge head-first into it the same day -“

“I confessed my feelings, I know, Lilith hasn’t let me live it down, I promise,” Caleb said.

Morgyn smiled and brushed some of Caleb’s hair back. “It was adorable,” Morgyn said. “And for the record, I did know you were the right one at that moment. Just not right that second.” Morgyn _may_ love others, too, but Caleb was still the first.

“That works for me,” Caleb said. “I knew you were the right one the second you walked in the door, so I guess we’re even.”

“That early?” Morgyn asked, looking disbelieving.

“Absolutely.”

“This is the part where you _kiss_!” Damian’s voice came from the back row.

Caleb and Morgyn burst into laughter, and then Caleb reached over and pulled Morgyn closer, and their lips met. “Love you,” Caleb murmured.

“Didn’t you just say that?” Morgyn whispered.

“And it wasn’t enough.”

Esme was finally asleep. Damian wordlessly took Cassandra’s hand and led her down the stairs. Morgyn and Caleb were already sitting and having a discussion about something, and Cassandra was curious, but they hushed when she and Damian came down.

He gestured for her to sit, and then sat too. That was odd.

“Okay,” Damian said. “Now that we’re all here, Morgyn has something to say.”

Morgyn frowned. “Why is it _my_ job to say it?”

“You’re the one that brought it up,” Damian said. “So you get to do the honours.”

“I didn’t exactly mean we had to do anything with it…” Morgyn mumbled.

Damian sighed, one eyebrow arching upward. “Morgyn’s in love with Cassandra.”

“ _WOW_! Just shove it out there why don’t you!”

“Wait, what?” Cassandra asked.

“I knew that,” Caleb said.

“What? How come you knew that and I didn’t?” Cassandra asked, looking at Caleb.

“Why didn’t _you_ know, why did everyone know this but me?! They’re _my feelings_!”

Damian slid down in his seat, laughing quite animatedly.

Cassandra shook her head. “Not everyone knew, I didn’t at least.”

“Well if it’s any consolation,” Caleb said, “I’m kind of sort of pretty in love with her too.”

“You have got to be kidding me,” Cassandra said.

“Nope,” Caleb answered. “Been since you moved out of your parents’ house.”

“Oh my Watcher that’s so long,” Cassandra said, wincing.

“You never wondered why he kept glaring at me early on?” Damian asked, arching an eyebrow.

“I figured he was just being defensive, like friends do,” Cassandra answered.

Damian simply gave her a _look_.

“… that wasn’t very friend-like, was it?” she asked.

“Nope,” Caleb answered. “I was seriously going to snap his neck if he hurt you. I’m glad I didn’t have to. I don’t like _hurting_ things…” Caleb grimaced.

Morgyn patted Caleb’s leg. “So now that we’ve established we’re all in love with Cassandra, what now?”

Cassandra turned pink. Caleb laughed. “Not just Cassandra,” he said. “I fell for Damian too, somewhere along the way.”

“See, that one I knew!” Cassandra said.

“There’s this thing called polyamory,” Caleb said.

“Oh no,” Damian said, grumbling.

“Are you _nuts_?” Cassandra hissed. “How do you suggest we explain that to other people?”

“We don’t,” Caleb said, deadpan. “It’s not really their business.”

“He’s got a point,” Morgyn said.

“Look, it sounds nice in theory,” Cassandra said. “But I’m _kind of_ a big deal. People will talk. A lot!”

“So let them,” Caleb said. “Heck, have fun with it! Mess with their heads, I know I will.”

“You _would_ ,” Morgyn said, smirking.

“Like you wouldn’t,” Caleb answered.

“And anyway,” Damian said, “we’re like… did you notice Morgyn and I are – cause ew…”

Caleb rolled his eyes. “Well _obviously_ you two wouldn’t participate in certain fun pastimes together, but you don’t have to. You take one end, Morgyn take the other, and then Cass and I in the middle, right?”

Damian frowned, thinking about it. It made sense, but… “After Jean I -“

“No, I know,” Caleb said. “Trust me, I know. I probably remember more about it than you do. I won’t push you. I don’t want to hurt you, Damian. Any of you, really.” Caleb went quiet, reaching over and taking Damian’s hand. And it was Damian’s turn to turn pink.

“Okay,” he said.

Cassandra and Morgyn smiled, glancing at one another.

“I think we’re officially a poly then?” Morgyn asked.

“Orrr, Cassandra has a harem,” Caleb said.

Cassandra groaned, pressing two fingers to her temple. “Please don’t say it that way.”

“ _We are live in Del Sol Valley, and stepping out into public for the second time ever is Mrs. Cassandra Goth! Just last week, Mrs. Goth completed her fiftieth masterpiece painting, which can now be viewed at the second floor of San Myshuno’s Casbah Gallery._ “

“ _Today she’s signing autographs and posing for pictures! Another first for her! Our reclusive artist is often more interested in spending time with her family, though they’re never out in public. Reporters say they’ve spotted her and her husband, Damian Goth, and their young daughter Esmeralda, at Myshuno Meadows. Anyone who’s a fan of hers remembers she and Damian were married at Myshuno Meadows only a few years ago!_ “

“Mrs. Goth! This way!” a paparazzi cried.

Cassandra turned instinctively, but really, she kind of wished she had Lilith here. Ah, but painting her fiftieth masterpiece painting was a big deal. She could tolerate it for a little longer, she was sure.

“Mrs. Goth! Do you have a moment for an interview?” a voice asked.

“Sure,” Cassandra answered.

Another Sim jogged up to her, carrying a tape recorder. “How do you feel about reaching such an important milestone?”

“I was just painting like I always do,” she said. “So not much different than usual.”

The reporter frowned, and then asked, “Were you aware that your husband was seen holding hands with a strange man at Nine East?”

Cassandra tilted her head. “Really?” she asked. “What’s this strange man look like?”

“Ah, reports say he was very pale, dark brown haired, with dark eyes.”

Caleb, of course. Cassandra smiled. “I’m glad. Nine East became Damian’s favourite place to eat, you know. He _would_ remember that.” Cassandra hadn’t been terribly interested in going back since she’d gotten food poisoning there, but at least he could go with Morgyn and Caleb.

The reporter frowned again. “Someone saw them _kiss_ , Mrs. Goth.”

“Aww, I’m glad they finally got that far!” That was exciting!

“No, you misunderstood -“

“No, I heard what you said just fine, and I didn’t misunderstand,” Cassandra said. “I wonder if they’ve gotten to second base yet! Oooh, I’ll have to ask when I get home!” Cassandra turned then, giggling to herself, and shuffled through the small crowd that had gathered.

The reporter looked confused. And then turned to look at the tape recorder, stopped it, pulled the tape out, and tossed it. The reporter wasn’t even sure what had just _happened_. Maybe that story would have to wait.

It was silent, save for the tendrils of darkness, and a male voice chanting in a lost, ancient Simlish tongue. The darkness swirled around him, lashing the air wildly. This darkness was always difficult to control, but it was something he had become quite good at over the centuries.

“Down, my darlings,” he murmured, and then resumed his chanting. The darkness swirled a little less wildly, as the man focused the energies in a distinct manner. This wouldn’t need to be done had certain individuals who would remain nameless hadn’t made some poor choices.

The darkness swirled around the ashes. It was a bit tricky to retrieve Sarnai’s ashes from her sister, but Lakshmi was never very good at paying attention to anything, either. The ashes swirled with the darkness, almost becoming one, and slowly, formed the vague shape of a female body.

Rakhesekhen was good at this by now; it was rare that Sarnai managed not to get herself into too much trouble. Trouble was her middle name. And when you were Rakhesekhen and happened to love that little bundle of endless trouble and questionable morality, you learnt to resurrect on command.

He’d known she was going to end up messing up not long after the All destroyed the duplicate Morgyn Ember. He was right, too, in assuming the duplicate would be a decent vessel from which to watch events unfold.

Unfortunately, Sarnai destroyed the duplicate, and Rakhesekhen had needed to spend the time waking up. It was so _annoying_ awakening from hibernation, truly. And then, to make matters worse, he had to awaken just for _this_.

Oh, he’d tell her all about how annoyed he was… later.

A loud gasp sounded, as the female shape became Sarnai, and she awoke with a jolt. She folded upward, and then stretched back out, and sat up. “Nnnn…” she said, and then hissed in annoyance.

Rakhesekhen settled back onto his feet, leaning over and turning her head to face him. “Oh, my love,” he whispered. “You should stop getting yourself killed. It’s quite tiring to keep bringing you back.”

“We do not play nicely,” Sarnai answered, her tone still half hiss.

“I know, my love,” Rakhesekhen answered, sounding amused. “Come play with me instead… it’s more fun anyway.”

Sarnai smiled coyly, and then tilted her head, sat up straighter, and pressed her lips against his.

How many times were they going to fall for the same old trick, Rakhesekhen wondered… a light smirk crossed his face, and then he tilted his head to either side, and walked into magic HQ. He’d gotten good at pretending to be Morgyn’s copy during the long period he’d possessed the last one.

And this time, they knew what not to do.

_The End! Happy New Year from the Goth-Vatores!_


End file.
